Reprobe following Elanthoor human sacrifice case led to arrest of man who killed and buried wife

KOCHI:  It was just another routine woman-missing case registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by the husband that his wife had left him for another. The case file for ‘Crime No 240/2022’ had been lying on the dingy, dusty shelves of Njarakkal police station for the last few months until a direction came from police headquarters that all missing cases should be re-investigated following the Elanthoor human sacrifice case.

Though police officers didn’t fully believe Sajeevan’s version, he managed to convince everyone that his wife Remya left him after a quarrel between the two. On the direction of Ernakulam rural district police chief Vivek Kumar, SHO Rajan K Aramana and his team launched a detailed re-investigation into the case.

Sajeevan was placed under constant surveillance and repeatedly interrogated. “He even convinced his children that their mother left them. The whole episode took place when Covid was at its peak and people were indoors. When we heard that Remya had left them, we made some inquiries. Sajeevan convinced us that she had left for a job in Bengaluru after picking a fight with him,” said Edavanakkad grama panchayat president Aseena Abdhul Salam.

Police said Sajeevan allegedly murdered Remya and buried her when the two children were at their grandfather’s house during lockdown. “He also supposedly destroyed her phone. But they managed to collect some digital evidence, and he cracked during interrogation unable to give clear answers to certain questions posed by the team based on the evidence,” they said. He was arrested on Thursday and will be produced before court on Friday.