KATTAPPANA: Police have arrested a man who set ablaze his neighbouring housewife after stealing her gold ornaments. Vettiyankal Thomas Varghese (54) was arrested in the case of the murder of Idukki Narakakkanam native Chinnamma (67).

On November 23, Chinnamma's charred body was found in her house. Four sovereigns of gold, including the necklace and bangles, went missing from her body. Thomas was arrested from Cumbum in Tamil Nadu during an investigation conducted by a special team under the leadership of Kattappana DySP Nishadmon.

The residence of Thomas, who is also known as Vettiyankal Saji, is just 500 meters away from Chinnamma's house. He is a black belt holder in Karate.

On the day of the incident, at 12.30 pm, Thomas reached Chinnamma's house and asked for drinking water. Chinnamma, who was doing the laundry, told him to sit down and went to the kitchen to take water. In the meantime, he went behind her and hit her on the head using a wooden plank. Although Chinnamma tried to defend herself using a kitchen black knife, she was unsuccessful. Thomas then took a sickle from the ground and hacked her several times. As Chinnamma fell unconscious, he removed her ornaments. After this, he took blankets, clothes and books from the next room and dumped them on Chinnamma's body. He then cut the hose of the cooking gas cylinder and set it on fire. Knowing the gas stove mechanism, he left the cylinder regulator only half open in SIM mode to avoid burning himself.

Police dog Steffy found evidence

On the day of the incident, the accused was also present under the pretext of helping the police investigation. However, the police became suspicious when Steffy, the police dog, sniffed and reached Thomas's house. With this, he fled with Rs 1,25,000 obtained after pledging the gold. The police soon expanded the investigation under the leadership of Nedunkandam, Kattappana and Vandanmedu CIs. They arrested him yesterday from the Cumbum bus stand.