SIT constituted to probe Kerala shooting incident

Inquest of bodies under way; four-member police team sent to Kannur to do background check

District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural) K. Karthik has formed a special investigation team (SIT) led by Muvattupuzha Deputy Superintendent of Police to probe the incident in which a man allegedly shot a young girl doing Bachelor of Dental Surgery dead and then killed himself in broad daylight at Nellikuzhi near Kothamangalam in Ernakulam district of Kerala on Friday evening.

The deceased, a 24-year-old from Kannur, doing house surgency at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, Nellikuzhi, was allegedly shot down by the accused, identified as Rakhil, 32, of Melur in Kannur, at a house in the neighbourhood of the campus where the victim was staying as paying guest along with her friends. Both the victim and the accused were known to each other after meeting over Instagram a year ago.

“We have sent a four-member team to Kannur to do a background check about both,” said Mr. Karthik. Though a lot of speculations were making rounds about the make of the weapon and how it was procured, the police said it was yet to be examined by ballistic experts.

Meanwhile, the inquest of the bodies is under way at Mar Baselios Medical Mission Hospital, Kothamangalam. After the procedure, they will be taken to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamasserry, for post-mortem following which the bodies will be handed over to relatives.

The victim was at her paying guest accommodation when the accused turned up allegedly with what was identified as a country-made pistol on Friday afternoon. The victim was having food with three other girls when the accused arrived.

He then reportedly summoned her to the next room, following which loud noises were heard, which were later learnt to be gunshots. While the girl sustained bullet wounds on her head and chest, the man sustained a wound on his head. They were rushed to a nearby hospital where both were declared brought dead.

It is learnt that the accused had probably followed the victim and had been moving around in the locality for nearly a month under the pretext of being a worker. It had also emerged that the victim, along with her family, and the accused had met in the presence of the police in Kannur, and the latter had promised not to meet her again.

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