Kollam: A doctor's hastily shot video of a patient's statement, hours before her death, has helped Karunagapally police arrest her murderer after three years. The accused is Venu, the son of 86-year-old Thankamma, a resident of Thodiyoor in Karunagapally, who died in a hospital after she was brought in an unconscious state.

In August 2022, a drunk Venu came home and got into a brawl with his mother. In a fit of rage, he allegedly assaulted her and tried to strangle her. Thankamma lay there all night until her daughter came home the next day. She was shocked to find her mother in a weakened state, and Thakamma was rushed to the hospital. A day later, she succumbed to her injuries on August 27, 2022.

According to the police, the doctor had observed dark bruises on her neck that suggested abuse and reported it to them. The post-mortem report confirmed that Thankamma had died due to blunt force trauma. The police were in a fix.

There were no eyewitnesses to the crime. The police had only circumstantial evidence and could not arrest Venu despite the suspicions. They took a statement from Thankamma's daughter, which further strengthened the suspicion. With no evidence, the police had to let him go. It was then that the doctor broached a video he had recorded. In her final moments, she was too weak from injuries, her speech was slurred, but the doctor captured everything on his phone and handed it over to the cops.

The cops had a start, but the statements were unclear and too weak for evidence. "Later, Venu consented to a Polygraph (lie-detection) test for the police, but he did not appear in court to obtain the judicial permit for it," a police official with Karunagapally police said. The police then turned to the sole piece of evidence- the video clip.

For the past three years, the police consulted with sound engineers and other experts to decode her statement. Finally, after multiple viewings and expert consultations, the police were able to conclude that Thankamma stated that her son, Venu, had committed the crime. With this evidence, Venu was arrested on Wednesday. "He was under our surveillance; he didn't make any attempt to abscond. We waited till we had strong evidence," the police said. According to the police, Venu had retired from the Ordnance factory.