Electric trap laid for wild boars kills death of two Palakkad youths

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The bodies found buried in a paddy field in Palakkad district of Kerala are of the two youths who had gone missing from the area the other day.

The dead were identified as Satheesh, 22, of Kalandithara and Shijith, 22, of Thekemkunnam in Kottekad. The bodies were found with the stomachs torn open and one body lying on top in opposite directions.

The owner of the land, Amabalaparambu Veetil Ananthan, 52, who is in police custody, has confessed to burying the two youths in the paddy field near Palneeri colony in Amabalaparambu at Kodumbu.

The accused told the police that the youths died after they came into contact with the electric trap set for wild boars. Subsequently, he buried the bodies out of panic.

Turn of events: The Kasaba police had registered a case against Satheesh, Shijith and their friends Abhin and Ajith in connection with a brawl with a gang in Venoli last Sunday night.

Even as the probe was going on, all four had assembled at the house of Satheesh's relative in Ambalaparambu. On Tuesday morning, they ran towards the field suspecting that a police team had arrived at their relative's house to pick them up. While Abhin and Ajith ran in one direction, Satheesh and Shijith took the opposite direction. After reaching Venoli, Abhin and Ajith found that Satheesh and Shijith had not reached there. They made calls on their mobile phones but didn’t get any response.

At that point, they decided to contact the police.

A police team searched the area and found that soil in a portion of the paddy field was removed. After digging the patch of land, the cops came across the bodies with no clothes.

The bodies were exhumed on Wednesday morning. Subsequently, inquest proceedings were initiated. The visuals retrieved from a CCTV camera installed at a house nearby showed that the youths ran in different directions in the paddy field at 4:50 a.m. on Monday.  However, soon they were out of the camera range.

It was only later they came to know that the police were on the lookout for the youths in connection with the brawl. Apart from the landowner, two more persons have been taken into custody in connection with the case.

Meanwhile, the police are investigating whether more people are involved in the incident.