Police crack 7-year-old murder case, nab absconding accused

KOCHI: Seven years after a 31-year-old man was murdered in Perumbavoor town, the Crime Branch cracked the case with the arrest of the culprit, who was the employer of the deceased.The accused, Ashokan, 51, a native of Neyyattinkara and owner of a flex board making firm, allegedly killed his employee Pramod, a native of Idukki, after a girl whom he got acquainted during a work hesitated to join his firm due to the influence of the deceased. 

He grew jealous over Pramod’s wide acceptance in  society. Hence he nursed a grudge towards Pramod and killed him, said police. The accused had been absconding for the past seven years.“Ashokan was arrested from Kozhikode on Thursday morning,” said Tomy Sebastian, SP, Crime Branch.The incident occurred on June 14, 2014. Pramod was found dead with stab injuries on his body in the building of the advertisement firm run by Ashokan in Perumbavoor town.

Though the Perumbavoor police conducted a probe they failed to collect adequate evidence against Ashokan. He told the police that he went out for having food at a hotel nearby and found Pramod murdered when he returned to the shop. The incident happened between 8pm and 9pm. When the probe zeroed in on Ashokan, he got admitted to a hospital in Neyyattinkara alleging police torture. He later moved to Kozhikode and was hiding there.

Pramod was an employee of Ashokan’s firm which makes hoardings and flex boards. During their work at Mudickal, near Perumbavoor, Ashokan got acquainted with a girl and offered her a job in his firm. However, she rejected it. Ashokan grew suspicious of Pramod’s involvement in this. He was highly annoyed about the acceptance received by Pramod, who belongs to a backward community, in society.
Nursing a grudge, he summoned Pramod to his shop on June 16 night and hacked him several times on his head with a machete.

Then he stabbed him using a knife to ensure his death and the intestine came out due to the brutality of the attack. The accused was involved in about six cases. “He had served 64 days in jail for hacking a person, Imbichi Koya, in Kozhikode. He hacked Koya, in the same manner he attacked Pramod,” said Tomy Sebastian. The Crime Branch constituted a special team and arrested the accused. “The police will move the court seeking his custody for conducting evidence collection,” the SP said.