THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 38-year-old woman, who was stabbed to death at a plant nursery near Ambalamukku, has turned out to be the victim of an alleged serial killer. The accused, Rajendran, 49, of Vellamadom near Thovala in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, has admitted before the police that he has committed four similar murders in Tamil Nadu earlier. All those murders were committed when the victims resisted his robbery attempt.
The accused was caught by the members of a special investigation team from his current residence at Kavalkinar in Tirunelveli district during the early hours of Friday. He was brought to the Peroorkada police station, where his arrest was recorded by 4 pm.
The police said Rajendran's previous victims include a Customs officer and his wife who resided under Aralvaimozhi police station limits in Tamil Nadu. The other two victims resided under Kanyakumari police station limits. The accused was a loner, who drifted from place to place and committed major and minor crimes.
“We would be contacting the Tamil Nadu police to know more about his crime records,” said Peroorkada station house officer inspector V Sajikumar. He said the accused was not ready to cooperate with the interrogation initially and acted as if he was mentally unstable. However, he started speaking once the police showed him all the visual evidence collected against him.
He said, being a habitual offender, he always carried a knife with him. While randomly walking along Ambala Nagar near Ambalamukku last Sunday, he spotted the victim Vinitha watering plants at the nursery. He also noticed the gold chain she was wearing. He entered the nursery as if to check out the plants and after confirming that she was alone, he attacked her using the knife. He too sustained an injury on his arm during the tussle with the victim.
City control room Assistant Commissioner R Prathapan, who was part of the investigation team, said they tracked down the accused by following several leads, including surveillance camera visuals and people who offered him a ride after the crime was committed. Surveillance camera visuals showed that he took a ride in a rickshaw from Santhwana Hospital junction to Alappuram Pond near Muttada after the crime. There, he freshened up in the pond and changed his attire by discarding his shirt. From there he was caught on camera hitching a ride on a scooter. The scooter rider was tracked down and he told the police that he dropped him at Ulloor. The police also found out another rickshaw driver, who dropped him back at Peroorkada from Ulloor. The rickshaw driver told the police that he dropped the suspect near the District Hospital at Peroorkada. On enquiring at the hospital, it was found that he sought treatment for an injury on his arm.
Another enquiry among traders near the hospital revealed that the suspect had been working at a tea shop near the hospital for the past one month. The police could track him down easily as he had shared his Aadhar details with the shop owner to secure a job there. Cantonment Assistant Commissioner Dinaraj and narcotic cell Assistant Commissioner Sheen Tharayil were also part of the investigation team that was supervised by City Commissioner G Sparjankumar and Deputy Commissioner Ankit Asokan.
