The Crime Branch investigation into the road-rage related murder of Sanal Kumar might ground to a halt with the suspected suicide of the sole suspect, DySP, B. Harikumar, at his family house on Monday. It was likely to report on the status of the case to the court soon.
Investigators said the officer, who had been on the run from the law since November 4 night, was always on the move from one remote locality to another. His escape route spanned Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Harikumar and his longtime associate, Binu, a moneylender, had slept in their car to avoid checking into lodges and hotels where they stood the risk of being identified.
The CB was waiting for the autopsy report to confirm the cause of Mr Harikumar’s death. The officer’s mother-in-law and had found him hanging in a shed in the rear of the house.
Officers said Mr Harikumar was a chronic diabetic and the loss of his son to cancer had changed him perceptibly. They said they did not suspect any foul play in his death.
The officer had also moved the district court for anticipatory bail. An official, quoting a close relative of Harikumar, said the DySP had expressed fear that he would be booed and heckled when the police took him to the scene of the crime. He also had reservations about being remanded in judicial custody along with other accused, some of whom he had arrested in his line of duty. Harikumar, he said, apparently did not want to make a spectacle of himself.
The DySP’s relatives blamed the media for ratcheting up the clamour for Mr Harikumar’s arrest. The media, they felt, had a vicarious responsibility in his death.
Mr Harikumar’s brother told the CB that Sanal had attacked the DySP and the officer had acted in self-defence. They had no previous enmity. The crime was not a premeditated one. The police had erroneously charged Mr Harikumar for murder after coming intense pressure from some powerful local groups. The agency has reportedly recorded his statement.
The agency said it would prosecute the officer’s aides on the charge of harbouring him and abetting his escape. The police were also investigating two officers attached to Neyyatinkara police station on the charge of having denied Sanal timely treatment. The department had earlier suspended them on the charge of having directed the ambulance carrying Sanal to the local station instead of the nearest hospital.
EOM / G ANAND