Jisha murder case: Migrant labourer, 23, arrested

ADGP B. Sandhya, heading the special investigation team probing the murder case, briefs the media about the arrest of the culprit at Aluva police club in Kochi. (Photo: Sunoj Ninan Mathew)

The killer of Jisha, 30, the law student who was murdered in her house on April 28, has finally landed in police custody after 50 gruelling days of social uproar, political upheavals and major shake-up in the police department.

Ameerul Islam, 23, a migrant worker from Assam and known to the victim for some time, was taken into custody from Thanjavur two days ago and his arrest was recorded on Thursday evening after detailed interrogation.

Ameerul, who was working at Perumbavur for over two years, admitted to have committed the murder to avenge the “humiliation” meted out to him by Jisha.

Investigation team head ADGP B. Sandhya said, “The DNA matching test (that of the accused with the bloodstains and saliva found on the churidar of the victim) is positive. We’ve registered his arrest. However, evidence collection will continue for facilitating a successful prosecution. We’ve to conduct his identification parade, medical examination and prepare remand report among others,” she said.

The cops traced him by taking into custody four of his friends whom he had earlier contacted to know the progress of the case.

Based on the information supplied by them and tracing the International Mobile Equipment Identity, a team led by dySP M.J. Sojan nabbed him from Thanjavur where he was working in a courier company on a temporary basis.

The police subjected him to detailed interrogation for nearly two days at an unidentified location in Thrissur and finally brought him to the Aluva police club by 4.40 pm on Thursday.

What gave the cops a breakthrough was a fresh probe conducted based on the recovery of a pair of black slip-on chappals recovered from near the victim’s house at Vattolippadi Canal Road at Eravichira. The police followed up the information provided by a footwear shopkeeper at Kuruppamppadi, from where the accused bought the slippers which eventually revealed the role of Ameerul.

According to the cops, Ameerul was known to Jisha when the construction of her new house started months back, but he fell out with her two weeks before the crime. On the day prior to the murder, the accused felt insulted when Jisha reportedly made fun of him after he was slapped by a woman bathing in the canal ghat near her house.

The youth again met her on April 28 noon. Jisha threatened to beat him with slippers when he passed lewd comments at her.

He returned to her house by 4 pm in an inebriated state and carrying a knife. He slashed the victim’s neck and choked her to death using her shawls before inflicting deep wounds on her body, including her private parts, as he failed to assault her sexually, they said.

The accused then escaped to Assam the next day from Aluva and returned to Tamil Nadu after some time.

Meanwhile, a special team which went to Assam and West Bengal came to know about his “missing case”. Responding to the arrest, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in Thiruvananthapuram, “Kerala was waiting to catch Jisha’s killer. This is definitely a feather in the cap of Kerala police.”

Jisha murder case: Police relied on scientific proof The Special Investigation Teams which probed the Jisha murder case relied on scientific evidence for most part of the investigation as there was no eyewitness to the crime and also the local police had botched up crucial evidence collection in the initial phase.

This is one of the rare cases where the cops first nabbed the murderer before they could fix the motive. Initially, the cops failed to fix the motive with no robbery attempt made and the victim having no enmity with anyone. There was also no solid proof for confirming the rape attempt theory.

“What proved to be the key in the probe was the finding that the bloodstains on a pair of slippers found abandoned near her house were that of Jisha and the killer. The saliva collected from the bite mark on Jisha’s shoulder and the bloodstains detected from the door bolt of the house were that of a single person which helped us close in on the accused later. The concrete remains also made us suspect the involvement of a migrant construction worker,” the police said in a statement.

Though the first SIT under ADGP K. Padmakumar recovered the slippers, it was the second team under ADGP B. Sandhya which sent the same for forensic examination and found the bloodstains of both the perpetrator and the victim.

“When we questioned the migrant labourers working in the region, we got information that the slippers with the same pattern were used by an Assam native who was found missing,” sources said.

Meanwhile, the cops completed the mammoth exercise of taking the list of the mobile numbers found in the vicinity of the victim’s house on April 28, the day of crime. “A total of 20 lakh numbers were there in the initial list which was cut down to 100 in the final stage. The accused’s number was one among them. Once we suspected his involvement, we collected the IMEI number knowing that he will destroy the sim card,” they said.

Finally, the accused Ameerul Islam fell into their net when he inserted a new sim card into the old mobile while hiding in Thanjavur.