The police have arrested the key accused and his helper in the murder of real-estate broker Rajeev.
Chakkara Johny of Angamaly and his helper Ranjith Pynadan were arrested from a hideout near Mangalam dam, Palakkad, on Sunday night.
They were brought to the Dy.SP office, Chalakudy, in the early hours of Monday.
According to the police, they escaped to Alappuzha after the murder. Later, they reached Palakkkad with the intention of escaping to Coimbatore in their friend Sudhan’s car. The police arrested Sudhan too. The police suspect that they were planning to leave the country via the Coimbatore airport. Four members of a quotation gang, including Johny’s brother-in-law Shiju, were arrested on Friday.
Rajeev of Nayathode, 46, a real-estate broker and farmer, was strangled to death by a quotation gang following rivalry in connection with some real-estate deals. His body was found in an uninhabited building near his leased farm land.
Rajeev had earlier given a complaint to the police that he and his family were facing threat to their lives.
In his complaint to the police, his son Akhil said that an eminent lawyer in Kochi had conspired to murder his father. He said that Chakkara Johny and the lawyer had threatened to kill Rajeev many times. Shiju, 45; Sathyan, 48; Sunil, 41; and Rajan, 56; the members of the quotation gang, have been remanded till October 13. According to the police, Johny gave a quotation for abducting Rajeev. The two accused, who initially hesitated to cooperate with the interrogation, answered the questions of the investigators later.
However, they were giving ‘pre-prepared’ statements, police said. According to Johny, he gave the quotation to take ₹3 crore from Rajeev. He arranged the quotation to seize Rajeev’s land and house at Angamaly worth ₹3 crore. They didn’t answer the question why they called the lawyer many times on the day of the murder. The special investigation team will probe the real-estate deals of the lawyer.