When he slipped into Tamil Nadu 39 years ago after his brother-in-law was hacked to death, Mohanan Pillai from Veliyam village in Kerala’s Kollam district hoped to shed all traces of his past. He allegedly changed everything about himself – he slipped into a new identity, married and rebuilt his life.
That is, until a tiny slip during a hospital visit led the police straight back to him. This week, Mohanan Pillai Kodiyattu was arrested for the murder of his brother-in-law Chandrasekharan Pillai, bringing an end to a four-decade-long search. In the time that passed, much had changed: Mohanan, now 64 and going by Rajan Keshavan, became the father of two children, earned a living through odd jobs at hotels and shops, and had allegedly become an alcoholic.
“We probed into details of Mohanan’s family. Our team accidentally stumbled on a person who told us that a few months ago, he had met someone at the Kottayam Government Medical College Hospital asking about the Kodiyattu family in Veliyam,” says investigating officer and Pooyappally SHO O P Shajimon.
The crime
According to the police, Mohanan hacked his brother-in-law Chandrasekharan Pillai to death on January 11, 1987. Chandrasekharan, then 35, used to brew illicit liquor and allegedly kept it at Mohanan’s house, leading to disagreements between them. That day, the disagreements allegedly came to a head, and Mohanan went to get a machete from a neighbour’s house and slit Chandrasekharan’s neck.
Investigators would find this weapon at the house.
Soon after, he allegedly went into hiding, slipping into Tamil Nadu and working as a hotel agent in the Christian pilgrimage town of Velankanni in Nagapattinam district. Here, he met his wife Valsa, who worked with a Kottayam-based family on pilgrimage.
“While staying at a hotel, Rajan struck up an acquaintance with all of us. He was offered a job by the family at their rubber nursery in Kottayam,” Valsa says.
Taking up the family’s offer, Rajan went to Kottayam months later and eventually asked to marry Valsa. The couple have two children – a 37-year-old daughter and 35-year-old son.
“My family was poor and my older brother was struggling to marry me off. Hence, the proposal from Rajan, who pretended to be an orphan, was irresistible for all of us. We started living in my house and he was known after our house name Kalayil,” Valsa says.
Investigators back in Veliyam went on a manhunt, conducting searches as far away as Mumbai, where Mohanan had worked earlier. Then, even without a suspect in custody, a chargesheet was filed but the trial was kept in abeyance. Soon, the crime faded from everyone’s memory except a few police officers and the case went cold.
“The weapon had been recovered in 1987 itself from Mohanan’s house and other evidence collected. The file had been submitted in the court,” SHO Shajimon says.
The unravelling
Recently, the police revived the case and began looking for fresh leads. It was during this that they allegedly found the information that led them to Mohanan.
“That person was learnt to be inquiring after the Kodiyattu family, and had also revealed that he was living in Kottayam’s Kallara village,” the SHO says. “Our team went to Kottayam district and shared available details with various stations in that district.”
In Kottayam, the police found that Mohanan was now married and a father, had taken up jobs at hotels and local shops, increasingly turned to drink and allegedly had domestic violence allegations against him. By then, he had also allegedly obtained documents such as a Voter ID card and Aadhaar under his assumed name, Rajan.
“Whenever Valsa threatened to alert the police about the assault, Rajan used to react nonchalantly. Whenever police officers, following Valsa’s calls, went to their house, he would promise to turn over a new leaf,” a Kottayam police officer who was part of the probe says.
When the Kollam Police came knocking two weeks ago, Valsa allegedly told them that he had, in drunken moments, dropped hints about his past and had even revealed his real name. Mohanan was tracked down to the toddy shop where he worked. The police also allegedly found that, when drunk, Mohanan would drop similar hints about his past at the toddy shop.
“As Mohanan had worked in hotels in the 1980s, the probe covered all hotels in the district,” SHO Shajimon says. “At first, he denied he was Mohanan, insisting he was Rajan Keshavan and had been living in that village for three decades. But then, he fumbled when probed about his family background and parents. Later, we took him to Veliyam, where his sisters identified Rajan as the absconding Mohanan Pillai.”
The police are now waiting to conduct DNA tests to formally confirm his identity as Mohanan.
His family, while shocked by the revelations, also appear relieved. “I’m not going to offer him legal help,” says Valsa. “Let him be in jail. My son and daughter could not find marriage partners because of Mohanan’s alcohol addiction and violence.”
This week, Mohanan Pillai Kodiyattu (left) was arrested for the murder of his brother-in-law Chandrasekharan Pillai (right), bringing an end to a four-decade-long search. (Express Photos) 
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