Palakkad ; Culprit in Kadambazhipuram double murder landed in Crime Branch net after five years of evading the police. 49-year-old UK Ramachandran, resident of Unnirikumbil Veedu in Kadambazhipuram, is accused of killing his neighbour couple in November of 2016.
The murder was a gruesome one. On the fateful night, the accused sneaked into the couple’s bedroom as they lay asleep and hit the couple Gopalkrishnan(55) and his wife Ammukutty(52) on thier heads with blunt object and also hacked them with sword to complete his kill. Police summised the murder to be a botched robbery. Six pavan(8 gm) of gold jewelry worn by Ammukutty and Rs 4000 in cash were found missing after the crime. The couple lived alone with their children working abroad..
Police failed to identify culprits despite 5 months into the probe. People in the neighbourhood formed a joint committee for protest and a Task Council accusing the investigations of not proceeding in the right direction. Then, following submission made in Assembly by former Ottapalam MLA P. Unnikrishnan, the case was left to the Crime Branch. The case was transferred to special team led by IG S. Sreejith.
The team scoured through thousands of phone records and conducted covert surveillance of shortlisted suspects, at the end of which, U Ramachandran was identified as the perpetrator.
The special investigation comprised SYSP MV Manikantan, DySP CM Devdas, Thrissur Crime Branch SI Muhammed Ashraf, ASIS M Habib, P Sudev, Sudevan, K Ramkrishnan, SCPOs Satheesh Kumar, K Ramesh, K Sajeena, CV Sheeba, and SCO H. Sheyovudeen.
Rmachandran was arrested last night when he visited his rented house in Kadambazhipuram.
