An eighth-grade girl from Karuvatta, Kollam district in Kerala and her three friends have been arrested for the alleged robbery and murder of her grandfather on Tuesday.
The 65-year-old victim, Sivankutty Chettiyar, a resident of Saraswati Nivas, Paravoor in Kollam, was found dead on Sunday.
The victim was last seen outside by neighbours on Saturday evening.
Kerala police say that the murder took place on Sunday night.
The accused, all minors, were arrested based on mobile call records, Manorama Online reported. One of the accused was a 17-year-old.
Police believed the murder plan was initiated by the 13-year-old granddaughter of the victim and planned about a week prior.
They said that the suspect wanted to buy an iPhone and promised to buy bikes for the other accused.
After the murder, the girl reportedly informed that the relative's house was locked for two days and that her grandfather was dead. Police became suspicious after the girl’s expression remained unchanged. She also reportedly asked if she could go write an exam after seeing the body.
Sivankutty’s hands and feet were tied to his back when he was found. Preliminary reports say he died from suffocation.
The 13-year-old is believed to have watched the murder take place via video call from a relative's house. Her accomplices broke into the victim's residence via the ventilation at night and committed the robbery and murder.
Police found that jewellery and money were stolen from the cupboards in the house. Local reports also say the four destroyed the CCTV footage.
The accused are also believed to have used gloves during the crime as there were no fingerprints found at the crime scene. Chilli powder was also found sprinkled at the scene and on the body.
The victim’s wife was at the hospital at the time of the murder as she was attending to her daughter, who is pregnant and preparing for a delivery. The 13-year-old is the woman’s first child born from her first marriage,
Sivankutty and the granddaughter were alone at the rented house.
The family was also building two houses near the rented residence.
A postmortem is being conducted at the Allapuzha Medical College Hospital.
Police are investigating the case from all angles, including other motives of the accused.
