Suspense comes 'S'-shaped in Muthoot murder mystery

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Call it a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Nearly three weeks after the midnight murder of 32-year-old Paul Muthoot George, executive director of Kerala-based financial services major Muthoot group, the plot has only got thicker.

Not surprisingly, a movie titled '12.30' is reportedly in the making, based on the murder that took place at around 12.30 am.

Two of the key suspects in the case and who are on Kerala police's goonda list, Om Prakash and Puthenpalam Rajesh surrendered before a magistrate in Tamil Nadu today, but the police version of an 'S'-shaped knife having been used to stab Muthoot to death has overshadowed even the surrender of the suspects.

A local television channel got a blacksmith in Alappuzha to say on camera that the 'S'-shaped knife that police recovered from the house of one Kari Sathish who admitted to having committed the murder had actually been custom-made for the police by him, and that the order to make the knife had been received after IG Vinson M Paul had revealed at a Press conference that an 'S'-shaped knife had been used in the murder.

The reference to the 'S'-shaped knife added a political subtext to the case, with Left supporters alleging that RSS activists were in the habit of using such knives, a charge that was immediately refuted by the BJP-RSS leadership.

Intensifying the plot, the mother of the self-confessed killer, Kari Sathish has alleged that the police had themselves planted the knife at their home, which the police recovered later from their home. Senior police officials are yet to counter the allegation.

The police earned criticism from the high court as well, with the court remarking today that it was bad precedence on their part to hold a press conference to explain details of a case while it was under investigation.

The Congress-led opposition today walked out of the assembly in protest against denial of an adjournment motion on the Muthoot murder issue, alleged a nexus between the police and criminal gangs, and demanded the resignation of home minister and CPM politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Paul Muthoot George was found murdered on the Alappuzha-Changanacherry road on the night of August 21, and the key questions of who killed the young businessman, for what reason, and why he was in the company of gangsters have all been begging answers.