A news report, a murder, a cop’s arrest: Kerala’s gripping crime story

The sequence of events triggered by a report published in a leading Malayalam newspaper in 2009 about an alleged party thrown by a liquor contractor and attended by police officers has also exposed the nexus between law enforcement officers and criminal elements in the state.

Today, the case is being probed by the CBI which has arrested two officers. And in a final twist, investigators now believe the original report that triggered it all may have been a false one.

The latest arrest was that of DySP S Santhosh Nair, on charges of conspiring to kill gang leader “Happy” Rajesh, who allegedly led the attack on V B Unnithan, the journalist.

Based on interviews with police and CBI officials involved in investigating the case, here are the primary facts:

October 13, 2009: The Kollam edition of Mathrubhumi publishes a report filed by Unnithan which alleges that a few police officers, including Nair, attended a party hosted by a liquor contractor at a government guesthouse the night before. The report alleges that the party, also attended by a few TV actors, witnessed “immoral activity” by guests. The report led to a probe by state police following which Nair, then a circle inspector, was shunted out of Kollam for a few months.

December 2010: Mathrubhumi publishes another report by Unnithan, alleging that another DySP N Abdul Rasheed, then the president of the Kerala Police Officers Association, had pulled the emergency chain of the Rajdhani Express in which he was travelling back from Goa so that he could alight at Kollam where the train did not have a stop. The report alleges that Rasheed was travelling with his family, his friend DySP Nair and family, and their common businessman friend S Santhosh Kumar alias Container Santhosh.

April 16, 2011: Unnithan is attacked in Kollam while returning from work. The attackers break Unnithan’s legs, hands and a few ribs. They abuse Unnithan for filing a “wrong report” about the assets of a UDF candidate for the upcoming Assembly elections.

April 27, 2011: Rajesh, the leader of a criminal gang, is found murdered inside his autorickshaw.

The thread connecting these incidents is being probed by CBI in the form of three investigations: the attack on Babu Kumar, the assault on Unnithan, and the murder of Rajesh. The CBI was called in to investigate these cases by the Kerala High Court following two separate pleas, by Kumar and Rajesh’s wife Bindu.

The latest headline was created by the arrest of Nair, 46, who is under suspension, having already been arrested by Kerala police in connection with the attack on Unnithan. CBI had earlier arrested Rasheed, who was in fact a member of the state crime branch police team that investigated Nair. Nair is also charged with conspiracy in the attack on Kumar.

CBI officials say that Unnithan’s report on the party was “wrong”. “The report hurt the officials. Their children could not go school due to the stigma. The promotions of some were delayed. An officer’s wife tried to commit suicide; another moved a defamation suit against the scribe,’’ they said.

The officials said Nair wanted to take revenge against Unnithan and was joined by Rasheed, who also faced ridicule.

However, Unnithan refuted the CBI claim. “After obtaining information from police sources, I had gone to the guesthouse to verify what was going on there. If my report was wrong, why were police officials transferred?’’

According to Nair’s wife Swapna, her husband had gone to the guesthouse in his official vehicle. “The guesthouse is in the heart of the city. Nobody would believe that there was immoral activity happening in such a place. On the same night, a residents’ association had hosted a party there,’’ she claimed.

She added that a family friend, involved in the catering business, had come to the room at the guesthouse, where the policemen were sitting. “This businessman’s wife and daughter were served food in the car in which they came. How could any immoral activity happen in their presence?’’ asked Swapna.

Nair’s wife said that the newspaper had targeted her husband with dozens of reports after the incident. “The newspaper never sought our version. We had 106 newspaper clippings kept here to prove our point, but the CBI took them away last week,’’ said Swapna.

According to CBI, the first reaction of the two police officers to Unnithan’s reports was the attack on Babu Kumar, who they believed had informed the journalist about the guesthouse party. While Ani was arrested, local police said the attack was related to a dispute at a local temple where Kumar had been an office-bearer.Kumar said he had been facing “a threat from various quarters” over the guesthouse incident. “State police did not probe the conspiracy. Subsequently, I moved the high court seeking CBI probe,’’ he added.

This August, CBI arrested Circle Inspector S Vijayan on charges of destroying evidence in Kumar’s case. Besides, Container Santhosh and two of his associates — Penty Edwin and Punchiri Mahesh — were also arrested.

After the attack on Kumar, the next link in the chain of crimes was the mysterious torching of a car owned by Edwin on January 30, 2011.

Three months later, according to CBI, Unnithan was attacked by a four-member gang — Rajesh, Mahesh, Anand and Shafeeq. And as a probe began into the attack, Rajesh was found murdered in his autorickshaw.

Rajesh’s cousin Binu said, “Rajesh had been an auto driver for 14 years. Nine months before his death, he had got involved in a case related to the attack on a house. He was really embarrassed by that case in which he got involved unknowingly. But that case brought him closer to Jinda Ani. It was through Ani that Rajesh got in touch with Container Santhosh,’’ said Binu.

CBI sources said Nair and Rasheed’s friend Santhosh, who runs a shipping container business in Kochi, agreed to attack Unnithan and his alleged source Kumar, and roped in Rajesh for the job. “Later, the three feared that Rajesh would reveal the conspiracy. Hence, he was murdered,” said a CBI official.

As Kerala police’s probe did not make any headway beyond the arrest of Nair, the government handed over the Unnithan attack case to CBI, which arrested Rasheed in August 2012.

Meanwhile, a local police team submitted a chargesheet in the Rajesh murder case, naming a five-member gang as the accused. Police claimed that Rajesh was murdered in a fight over the mysterious torching of the car belonging to Edwin, Santhosh’s associate. The crime branch did not explore any links between Rajesh’s murder and the attack on Unnithan.

Stung by the crime branch claim, Rajesh’s wife Bindu moved the High Court, seeking CBI a probe — her plea was granted on December 21, 2012. Bindu alleged that Nair and Rasheed were involved in the conspiracy behind the murder of her gangster husband.

However, CBI sources said, “So far we have not found any evidence to link Rasheed with the murder of the gangster Rajesh and the attack on the policeman Kumar.’’

Now Nair has alleged in court that CBI failed to look into the role of other police officials in the cases.

“When journalists raised a protest over the delay in arrests, senior officials said they wanted to arrest Nair to save their face. Otherwise, everyone would figure in case,’’ alleges Nair’s wife.