CBI cracks 19-year-old Kerala triple murder case; Army deserters nabbed in Puducherry

The law has finally caught up with two army deserters for allegedly killing a woman and her 17-day-old twin daughters — likely the children of one of the two men — in Kerala’s Kollam district 19 years ago.

The CBI on Friday (January 3) arrested the duo from Puducherry, where they had been living under fake identities, got married, and started families and whole new lives.

The two men — Anchal (Kollam) native Divil Kumar and Kannur’s Rajesh P — were produced in a court in Kochi on Saturday and remanded in police custody. The CBI is likely to seek their custody.

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Murders most foul

The murders date back to February 10, 2006. The woman, Ranjini, 24 at the time, and her newborn daughters were found murdered in their rented house at Yeram near Anchal.

It was Ranjini’s mother, who had gone to the panchayat office to get the twins’ birth certificates, who had found the bodies upon returning home.

Apparently, Ranjini had a relationship with Divil Kumar (then 28), got pregnant, and gave birth to the twins on January 24, 2006. Divil, however, was not in the mood to marry her or accept the girls as his daughters.

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What prompted murders?

As he began distancing himself from her, Ranjini approached the Kerala State Women’s Commission, which ordered a paternity test of the twins. Fearing that the test would establish that the kids were his, Divil started plotting Ranjini and the girls’ murders.

At that time, Divil served in the Indian Army’s 45 AD Regiment in Pathankot. He allegedly took the help of Rajesh, 33 at the time, who also served with him in the same regiment, for the murders.

Rajesh apparently won Ranjini and her mother’s trust, assuring them that he would help convince Divil to marry Ranjini. On the contrary, he allegedly killed her and the girls in connivance with Divil.

Army deserters

Both the men went on the run soon after the murders and even left the Army, which declared them as deserters in March 2006.

The Kerala Police — as well as the CBI later — identified the men during the investigations. The local police carried out an extensive search and even declared a reward of Rs 2 lakh for information that could lead to their capture, but the duo seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Finally, the case was handed over to the CBI in 2010 on the orders of the Kerala High Court following a plea from Ranjini’s family, but a breakthrough eluded the agency as well.

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New lives in Puducherry

It has now been revealed that after the murder, Divil changed his name to Vishnu and Rajesh to Praveen Kumar, according to the CBI. They purchased properties, married two teachers in Puducherry, fathered children, and started new lives in the quiet town.

After 19 years of pursuit, the CBI finally received a tip-off recently that Divil and Rajesh were living in Puducherry under fake names and had managed to get new documents made, including Aadhaar cards.

After a thorough surveillance and verification, a team of CBI officers swooped in on the duo on Friday, the agency said in a statement.

“The CBI investigation revealed that the above murders were committed by Divil Kumar and his friend Rajesh. Both the accused were absconding from the stage of investigation in 2006,” the statement said.

The CBI said it had filed a chargesheet and the court had declared the duo as Proclaimed Offenders.

(With agency inputs)