Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 4 (PTI) The recent murder of a 17-year-old boy, whose body was found stuffed in a sack and dumped in a vacant plot here, was a pre-planned act, police said on Wednesday.
Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Arul B Krishna said that the accused girl in the case was allegedly aware, two to three days before the incident, that the main accused planned to kill 17-year-old Abhiram.
"According to our preliminary investigation, she was aware of the plan, what happened on the day of the incident, and what was done subsequently to destroy the evidence. We need to find out if she was an active participant in the crime. We suspect her of being actively aware of the entire plan and trying to destroy evidence in the case," the officer told the media.
He said that the investigation will intensify and the police have already collected substantial digital evidence, including CCTV visuals and mobile tower locations, which they could not destroy.
"We will get more evidence in the coming days," he asserted.
The main accused was a senior to the victim in the school, and they all lived in the same locality and had common friends.
A small row in connection with a prior relationship of the main accused with another girl and the issues he faced as a result was the start of the whole thing, which ended in Abhiram's murder, the officer said.
"The main accused had told the third accused girl that Abhiram would have to be killed, as per messages shared between them. So, there was preparation and planning behind the crime. The victim was called to the incident site with a clear intention," Krishna said.
He said that the investigation till now has revealed that the main accused planned to commit an "extreme act" and, as part of that, had purchased a sack to hide the body.
"Nobody would do all that for something that happened by mistake. It was fully planned. The main accused used the third accused's phone, in her presence, to lure the victim," he said.
The officer further said that the police also suspect the involvement of one or two more persons who were aware of the crime and had promised to help hide or destroy the evidence.
He also said that social media platforms were being used by people with criminal tendencies to commit offences and therefore, children in our families should be informed about their potential misuse and the need for self-regulation when using them.
The victim was lured to the incident site via Instagram messages sent from the co-accused girl's phone.
The police have arrested the main accused, a juvenile, and two others, including one, Umar, who is involved in various other crimes.
The juvenile was sent to an observation home on Tuesday for 10 days by the Juvenile Justice Board.
Abhiram's body was found on Monday, stuffed inside a sack and dumped among banana plants in an isolated plot at Pangappara near Sreekaryam.
His parents had approached the Sreekaryam police after he failed to return home, and the body was recovered after some of his friends were questioned.
A preliminary examination suggested he had been strangled, a police officer said.
On Tuesday, Abhiram's father raised serious doubts about the circumstances of the murder. He claimed his son was not the intended target and was killed after refusing to bring another boy to the spot at the accused's request.
According to Abhiram's father, the 17-year-old named as the first accused called Abhiram using a phone belonging to the accused girl and asked him to come to Pangappara.
After Abhiram reached the spot, he was allegedly asked to bring another friend there. His father claimed the group was actually looking for that friend and that his son was killed after he refused to cooperate.
(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)