An incident that shook the conscience of an entire state, the brutal murder and rape of a 30-year-old law student in Kerala's Perumbavoor in April caused a public outcry. In an election month, the hashtag, justice for Jisha, also became the biggest political talking point.
Two governments, three probe teams and forty nine days after the incident, the Kerala Police claim to have cracked the case which saw many twists and turns. Police say a migrant labourer from Assam who is arrested has confessed to the gruesome crime.
"The identification parade, remand report and medical examination of the accused need to be done. We have arrested him. We need cooperation from everyone," B Sandhya, ADGP South Zone said in Kochi.
So how did the investigators reach the breakthrough? In less than a week after the incident, on May 4, the police released the sketch of a suspect. Around the same time, several migrant labourers from the locality were detained for questioning.
As the investigations made little progress and no arrest, the public outcry and pressure from the Opposition forced the then Oommen Chandy government to change the probe team. A new team of 20 officers, headed by DySP KM Jijimon were tasked with nabbing the culprit.
ELECTIONS, RUMOURS AND A CRIME
As the elections drew nearer, almost every leader who campaigned in the state visited Jisha’s family at the Perumbavoor hospital. The chorus for a CBI probe grew louder. The new team widened the probe and spoke to Jisha's neighbours. Three women in their statements said they heard a scream from Jisha's house on that fateful evening. One of them also admitted that she spotted a man wearing a yellow shirt walk out of Jisha's house
"We heard a loud sound from the house. There was also a thunderstorm at that time. The screaming wasn't 'amme acha (mother, father)'," Nandakumar, a neighbour of Jisha told CNN-News18 on May 6.
Even as the cops were trying to piece together all the information and evidence, various speculations and rumours were floated. One of them said the culprit – a migrant labourer – is a friend of Jisha's sister.
The police meanwhile, in a mammoth task, collected the fingerprints of nearly 800 men from the neighbourhood, hoping at least one would match the fingerprints collected from the scene of crime. They even checked whether the Aadhar database would help with the biometrics.
NEW GOVERNMENT, NEW PROBE TEAM
After elections, Kerala got a new Left Democratic Front government. On the day he was sworn in, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan appointed the third team, an SIT headed by the high-profile police officer, ADGP B Sandhya, after he pointed out lapses by the earlier probe teams. The newly formed police team has close to 80 members - from the ADGP to the inspectors and cyber police.
Senior Kerala police officers told CNN-News18 this is one the largest police teams ever probing one of the most gruesome crimes Kerala has seen. The team released a sketch of a suspect, and a week ago collected the CCTV footage from a shop near Jisha's house. The nabbing of the Assamese labourer, who police claim, has confessed to the crime, is likely to strengthen anti-migrant sentiment in Kerala.
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