Thiruvananthapuram:A 24 year-old army man is among the three men accused of killing a 30-year-old woman, pouring salt all over her body and burying it in a hastily dug grave with saplings planted over it to ward off suspicion.
Speaking with News18 over the phone, Akhilesh Nair, currently serving in the army, denied the murder charges and said he will surrender before the police in a couple of days.
"I did not kill her. If I had any such plan, I could have done it much earlier. I knew her for the last four years. It is true that I had met her on June 21 and dropped her at a place as she desired. I came to know about the incident through the media. However, I will be surrendering before the investigating officers as advised by my superiors," he said.
However, police is yet to believe his statement given to the media and relatives, including the claim that he is in Ladakh.
The murder came into light on Wednesday after the body of Rekha Mol was found near the house of Akhilesh in Vellarada, around 40 km east of from Thiruvananthapuram city, bordering Tamil Nadu. The body, without any clothes on, was in a decomposing state.
“Akhil, his brother Rahul, and friend Adarsh planned this murder following a love relationship turning sour,” a police officer told media persons on Thursday.
Adarsh, one of the accused in the murder, was arrested on Thursday and remanded to 14-day judicial custody.
"It all started with a missed call. Rekha and Akhil, belonging to different religions, got into a relationship a few years ago. She is a native of Poovar in the coastal belt of the district and was working in Ernakulam. However, Akhil did not want to continue the relationship as he got engaged to another woman. But Rekha was not willing to give up on the relationship, despite repeatedly being told to do so," the officer said.
On June 24, while returning from her home she met Akhil Nair, along with his friends, and got into their car.
"According to our preliminary investigation, the men told her to withdraw from the relationship. But she was not willing. So they executed their plan. Akhil kept revving the accelerator of the car so that people could not hear any sounds, while the other person with him strangulated her in the car. After this, they buried her in a pit near Akhil's house in the night," the official said.
Police started the investigation following a complaint by the parents of the woman as she was missing from June 21. The police zeroed in on the trio after conducting a lengthy investigation, which included tracking mobile phone locations and call records and quizzing several people.
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