Kerala: Man, accused in lover's murder, held

Kochi: A Tamil Nadu native, who had allegedly murdered his lover and dumped her body at Kakkanad Rickavalley in July 2015, has finally been arrested by a special team of Kochi City Police from his hideout in Tirupati. The accused was identified as Perumal Guruvan Karuppan, (37), a native of Vazhavechannur, Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu. According to police, the accused dumped his wife and two children and eloped with his lover Jayalakshmi to Kerala. They had rented a building at Padamugal Kambivelikkakom.

“The accused, a degree holder, was earlier working as a supervisor in an ad company in Tamil Nadu and met the victim who was working there on a daily wage basis. The two soon fell in love and decided to elope. Jayalakshmi too was married and had three children,” police said. On July 1, 2015, the two had a spat after Jayalakshmi wanted to return to her village in Tiruppur.

“The accused feared he would lose her. He and the victim set out of the rented house on that day and were on the lookout for construction activities in Rickavalley. Perumal rented out tools including a machete and took Jaylakshmi to a secluded place before hacking her to death. He then escaped and evaded police for the last two years by shifting between different states including Maharashtra,” S Jayakrishnan, Circle Inspector, Kalmassery said. The special team camped in different places in Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Maharashtra before finally managing to arrest the accused from a village near Tirupati. The accused was produced before a local court in Kakkanad and remanded to 14 days in judicial custody.