Accused detained in Subhadra murder case after closing all loopholes

MANGALURU: An investigation focusing on a phone helped to trap the accused in the murder case of Subhadra (73), wife of late Gopalakrishnan Nair at Kadavanthra Karithala Road Sivakripa, at the rented house near Korthussery Temple at Kalavoor in Alappuzha. Nithin alias Mathews (38) of Kattoor in Alappuzha and his wife Sharmila (36) of Uduppi in Karnataka, were detained from Perampally in Manipal.

The police after monitoring the phone came to know that the two have reached Uduppi, where she had lived earlier. The police found that Sharmila's phone was switched on in Mangalore last morning. The police then contacted people who knew Sharmila in Uduppi and Mangalore, and asked them to provide information about them. The phone was soon found to be switched off.

By noon the tower location in Manipal was on. Came to know that they are in the house of a woman in Perampally, where Sharmila lived earlier. When they arrived, the woman had gone to the hospital and only her son was at home.

The police, who knew the woman's phone number, had given orders that Sharmila and Mathews should be detained if they arrived as they are accused in the murder case. By the time she informed her son, the accused had left from there. The police immediately called her son and asked him to call the couple immediately. He called them and told them that his mother will return soon. The police reached the spot and took the accused into custody.

Head constable Thomson of Manipal police was with the Kerala Police. This made them easy to identify the place. The Kerala Police team led by Mannancheri inspectors Nivin and Mohan Kumar detained the accused.