Murder of girl was premeditated: police

He kept a knife with him when he had taken her to Valparai

The murder of the 17-year-old girl by a youth was a premeditated one, according to police.

Her body was found dumped in a tea plantation at Valparai on the border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The accused, Safarshah, 26, of Kumbalam, who was brought from Valparai to the city by a team of Central police in the early morning hours of Thursday, had allegedly planned to kill the girl enraged by her decision to reject him.

He was in possession of a knife when he had taken the girl along with him on Tuesday afternoon. According to the police, the murder was committed inside the car.

“He claimed to have thrown the knife away from inside the car a few kilometres away from where he dumped the body. We had searched for it briefly on Wednesday but couldn’t find it,” said S. Vijayasankar, Inspector, Central police.

Similarly, the police are yet to trace the bag of the victim, which also the accused claimed to have dumped somewhere along the route. However, they recovered his bloodstained shirt.

The police had taken the accused to the spot from where the body was recovered before he was brought to the city. They have registered a case against him invoking IPC Sections 302 (murder), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 366A (procuration of minor girl), and 370 (trafficking of persons).

He was produced before the court and remanded for 14 days. The police are expected to file a custody plea next week. “We will have to take him back along the route to the crime scene for evidence collection once we get his custody,” said Mr. Vijayasankar.

Service station petition

Meanwhile, the automobile service station where the accused was employed had lodged a petition against him at Maradu police. He had used a car from the service station to commit the crime. Maradu police have registered a case against him invoking IPC Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).

The girl’s family had lodged a missing case with the police on Tuesday evening after the Plus Two student did not return from class. They had also shared their suspicions about the accused in her disappearance as he had in the past threatened to kill her.

Later the police learned that he had taken the girl in a car following which the vehicle details were passed on to various police stations, leading to the interception of the accused at Valparai. At that time the girl was missing from the car and the Valparai police also noticed blood stains inside the car. He later confessed to have murdered the girl.

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