Woman and Six Others Arrested for Brutal Attack Over Allegedly Undervalued Property Sale in Thiruvananthapuram
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Seven individuals, including a woman and two migrant workers, have been arrested following a brutal attack on a property buyer. The assault, which occurred in the early hours of October 22, was allegedly instigated over a dispute concerning the undervalued sale of a house by the daughter-in-law of one of the accused.
The victim, identified as 61-year-old Viswamitran from Pulivila R.C. Bhavan, Uchakkada, sustained serious injuries in the incident.
The arrested individuals include Chandrika (67) of Kottukal Uchakkada R.C. Bhavan, Santhosh alias Sunil Kumar (45) of Uchakkada Sunil Bhavan, Shaiju alias Sunil (43) of Kanjiramkulam Mallankulam Chundayilpet Kadayara Puthanveettil, R.J. Rakesh (29) of Kanjiramkulam Thadathikulam Pulininna Veettil, and Anoop (29) of Uchakkada S.S. Nivas Therivila Veettil. Additionally, two Jharkhand natives, Shashikumar (19) and Bhagavatkumar (19), are in police custody in connection with the case.
The dispute centers around the sale of a two-storey house along with 33 cents of land, which belonged to Chandrika’s daughter-in-law. The property was sold to Viswamitran for three crore rupees. However, Chandrika vehemently claimed that the sale price was significantly below its actual value and subsequently began residing in the very house that had been sold. This led to a contentious situation when Viswamitran and his wife moved into the property, prompting both parties to seek legal recourse.
During the ongoing legal battle, Chandrika reportedly enlisted the help of her relative, Anoop, to forcibly remove Viswamitran from the property. For this, she allegedly paid Anoop an amount of one lakh twenty-five thousand rupees.
Acting on this, Anoop conspired with Santhosh, and together they orchestrated the attack. They recruited Shaiju, Rakesh, and two migrant workers from Anoop’s camp. In the early hours of October 22, taking advantage of Viswamitran’s wife’s absence, Chandrika allegedly alerted the assailants via phone. She facilitated their entry by opening the back door of the house and then locked the front door from the inside to prevent Viswamitran from escaping.
Viswamitran, who was asleep at the time, was then subjected to a brutal assault by the accused, who used iron rods and wooden sticks. To destroy any potential evidence, the attackers also removed CCTV cameras and hard disks from the premises.
Following their apprehension, five of the accused have been remanded to judicial custody by the court. The remaining two individuals are scheduled to be produced in court today. The arrests were made by a police team comprising Vizhinjam SHO R. Prakash, SI Dinesh, SCPO Vinayakumar, and CPO Rejin.