The police on Thursday arrested a 23-year-old youth for the alleged murder of a 60-year-old woman and grievously injuring her 65-year-old husband.
The arrested was identified as Muhammed Bilal, a native of Thazhathangady, near Kottayam. The police have recovered a portion of the gold ornaments stolen from the house from Bilal’s possession, besides the car in which he had escaped.
M.A. Abdul Sali and his wife Sheeba, who were living at Parappadam, were found lying in a pool of blood in their house. While Sheeba died on the way to the hospital, Sali is battling for life at the critical care unit of the Kottayam Government Medical College Hospital.
According to the police, the accused was taken into custody from Ernakulam on Wednesday evening. He had close acquaintance with the victims since his stay at a house near here for a short period.
The accused had approached the couple with an intention of robbery and gained an entry into the house as he was familiar to them. Soon he unleashed a brutal attack on Sali and then on Sheeba. He hit the victims on their head with a wooden furniture several times. The accused also attempted to electrocute the victims but it did not work. Prior to leaving the scene, he left open an LPG cylinder in the room to destroy evidence,’’ said G. Jaidev, District Police Chief, Kottayam.
Following the attack, the accused broke open a few vaults inside the house and decamped with gold ornaments and cash, and left for Kochi. In the guise of an online taxi driver, he arranged a bed-space at a house near Edappally.
The police recovered 28 of the 55 sovereigns gold stolen, while the car was taken into custody from Alappuzha town. Bilal had been been accused in criminal cases on earlier occasions too, officials said.
The accused will be produced before a magistrate.