Two Army personnel, who murdered a woman and her twin daughters in Kerala's Kollam district, were arrested from Puducherry, 19 years after the gruesome crime. The duo, who deserted the Armed forces after committing the crime in 2006, had been living under a new identity with their new families when police finally zeroed in on them.
Divil Kumar B (42) of Anchal in Kerala's Kollam district, and Rajesh P (48) of Kannur district, were arrested from Puducherry, where they had been living under false identities. They were brought to Kochi on Saturday.
Police said the deceased was Ranjini, an unwed mother of twin girls. She was in a relationship with Divil, who was her neighbour. She fell pregnant with the children but Divil, who was posted in the Pathankot Regiment, denied the paternity of their children. Ranjini approached the Kerala State Women’s Commission. The panel ordered a DNA test on Divil to determine the parentage of the twins and sent him a notice.
It was following this that Divil decided to commit the murders. He sought the help of his friend Rajesh, who too served at Pathankot, for the murders. Both took leave from the Army together and arrived in Kollam, near Ranjini's due date.
Divil sent Rajesh to the hospital where Ranjini delivered the babies. Rajesh befriended Ranjini and her mother under the false identity of Anil Kumar. He offered them financial help and even dropped Ranjini at her home, in a bid to familiarise the house and premises.
On February 10, 2006, Rajesh reached the woman's home. He dropped Ranjini's mother to the nearby panchayat office before returning to Ranjini's home. He first slit her throat and then killed both the infnats.
While Divil cancelled his leave and rejoined the Army a few days later, Rajesh never arrived back at Pathankot.
The Kollam Police found out their links to the murder and alerted the Pathankot regiment officials. However, Divil gave authorities a slip and went absconding. Both had been living under the radar since then.
However, the investigation continued until the police got a tip-off from an anonymous person that Divil was living in Puducherry with his new wife and children and was running an interior design firm. Both had married and had children.
AI help to reconstruct images
On receiving the tip-off, the police decided to check the images of the duo using artificial intelligence. They collected the images of Divil, who was living under the guise of Vishnu, from his wife's Facebook page. A sample of 20 images was reconstructed from his old pictures, which matched with the ones from social media. The police arrived at Puducherry and questioned him. Though he initially denied his identity, he later confessed to the crime. The police also found Rajesh, who had been living near him.
