Mystery over the murder of a 49-year-old unmarried woman at the Congress block committee office at Nilambur in Kerala’s Malappuram district, for which a close aide of the State Power Minister was arrested the other day, deepened on Tuesday with the autopsy revealing rape and the victim’s brother, local residents and political parties alleging involvement of “top men”.
Radha, a sweeper at the Congress office, had been missing since the morning of February 5 and her body, packed in a sack, was found the other day from a pond owned by a Karshaka Congress leader some ten kilometers away. The police arrested Aryadan’s additional PA Biju Nair (38), also secretary of the Congress office, and his associate Shamsuddeen (29) for the murder.
Biju told the police that he had strangulated Radha at the Congress office on the morning of February 5 when she had come for work because she was trying to blackmail him over his illicit relationship with another woman. He then took the body to the pond in the autorikshaw of Shamsuddeen, according to Biju.
The post-mortem report said that Radha had been raped and that deep wounds had been inflicted to her genitals. It said that excessive bleeding from the wounds could have been one of the reasons of death. At the same time, surgical plasters had been stuck on the mouth and nose. The doctors felt that no gang-rape had taken place.
However, the local police probing the case refused to agree with the doctors’ finding of rape. A police official said, “Firstly, the body was decomposed. Secondly, we had not been able to find any evidence of rape from our investigations so far. It is yet to be ascertained whether there was rape.”
The case has already become sensational with various political parties demanding a high-level investigation as there were rumours of involvement of influential personalities in the incident. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday ordered a special probe by Inspector General of Police S Gopinath.
The CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF and the BJP called for a protest shutdown in Nilambur Assembly constituency, represented by Aryadan Muhammad, one of the senior-most leaders of the Congress party in Kerala. Nilambur is also the native place of Aryadan, who said he was ready to face any probe and that he had ordered expulsion of Biju Nair from his personal staff.
Radha’s brother Bhaskaran told newsmen that what Biju Nair had told the police about the incident need not be true. Biju could have committed the crime but it was done for some other people, he suspected/ Bhaskaran said that there had been two attempts to kill Radha earlier. He also called for a high-level inquiry into the incident to bring out the truth.
Demands have already come for the interrogation of Aryadan Muhammad and his son and Aryadan Shoukath, a Congress leader and film producer. VM Sudheeran, who took charge as Kerala PCC president on Tuesday, said there would be no efforts to protect those who were responsible the murder.
“There are several gaps,” said a shopkeeper in Nilambur town. “The crime was committed in a morning at a Congress office which generally remains crowded. So there should have been witnesses. Then they drove over ten kilometres to dump the body in a pond owned by a leader of the Karshaka Congress. Certainly, questions will be asked,” he said.
State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that efforts were on to protect "some people" who had involvement in the crime and that the police were acting accordingly. "There are influential people behind this. Efforts to save them have been there from the very beginning as the Home portfolio is being handled by the Congress party,” he said.