THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cantonment CI Prajeesh Sasi, who ensured the court’s death sentence for a mother and son in the Vizhinjam murder case, has been awarded the Kendriya Grihmantri Dakshata Padak by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The award reached Prajeesh for meticulously solving a confounding murder case in just two and a half hours.
Shantakumari (74) of Mullur Vizhinjam was brutally murdered by accused Rafeeka Beevi, her son and her boyfriend. The body was then kept hidden in the attic of the house. Prajeesh solved the case and caught the culprits even before the deceased’s body was identified.
It was also a first for a mother and her son to get a death sentence from court. Rafeeka Beevi (51), the accused in the case, is the second woman in the state to be sentenced to the death penalty. Binithakumari was sentenced to death in March 2006 in the Kollam Vidhukumaranthampi murder case. This was later reduced to life imprisonment. Rafeeka's son Shefiq (27) and friend Al-Amin (27) also got death sentence.
On the morning of January 14, 2022, the accused, who were tenants of the neighbouring house, killed Shanthakumari in an attempt to steal her jewellery. After befriending Shanthakumari, Rafeeka invited her to their rented house. Shefiq and his friend Al-Amin, who was hiding in the house strangled Shanthakumari.
Rafeeka then took hold of a hammer and forcefully struck the woman’s head. Al-Amin took matters into his own hands and started striking the woman’s head repeatedly with the hammer, ensuring her death. After stealing necklaces, bangles, rings and earrings, the body was hidden between the asbestos roof and attic of the house.
Neighbours informed the police around 7:30 pm that blood was falling from the attic. Prejeesh, who was Vizhinjam CI at that time, started the investigation on the assumption that it was Rafeeka’s body in the attic. However, the phone tower location of Shefiq and Al-Amin showed that they were inside a bus bound for Palakkad. The police quickly stopped the same bus at Kazhakuttam junction in Thiruvananthapuram and were shocked to see Rafeeka sitting alongside the youths.
Very soon, Prajeesh received a complaint from Shanthakumari’s son about his mother's missing. This connected the dots. In the judgement, the court extolled the investigation team for their excellence in solving the case even before the body was moved from the attic.
Prajeesh is a native of Karimthottuva. He was CI at Museum, Vizhinjam and Pandalam stations. In Vizhinjam he served as CI for more than two and half years and saw through the infamous port strike. He had then received a badge of honour for prudently preventing the strike from worsening.