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Kerala Class 10 student killed to avenge old enmity: Cops on Aug 30 case
Family members of the boy say that there was an incident where Adisekhar found Priyaranjan one day urinating near the compound of a local temple allegedly in an inebriated condition
On August 30, when a Class 10 student died after being hit by an electric car in Kattakada in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, the driver was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. But the examination of CCTV visuals and testimonies by the victim’s family a week later have led the police to frame murder charges against the accused seeing it as a calculated crime, a police officer said.
Adisekhar A (15) was beginning to go home on a bicycle after playing with friends near Pulinkode temple in Poovachal when an electric car, which was initially parked on the side of the road, suddenly lunged forward and rammed the minor boy, crushing him under the process. CCTV visuals of the incident, broadcast on local media, showed the car hitting the boy and running over him. A friend of the boy is seen standing on the side of the road.
The man driving the car was identified as Priyaranjan (41), who worked abroad and was a distant relative of the boy. Though initially he was charged with unintentionally causing the boy’s death under section 304 of IPC, the CCTV visuals as well as statements from the victim’s family and locals have led police to conclude that the accused intentionally rammed the boy with his car as part of revenge. He was also inebriated at the time of incident.
“When we probed the reason for such a brutal murder, we got information of previous enmity. There was an argument between them about urinating near a temple wall. We confirmed it. He has been absconding. We have arrived at the conclusion that this is a murder case. We are investigating,” said N Shibu, Kattakada deputy superintendent of police.
Family members of the boy say that there was an incident where Adisekhar found Priyaranjan one day urinating near the compound of a local temple allegedly in an inebriated condition. The Class 10 student had reportedly questioned him about this and told others in the family about his act, which infuriated him.
Ajantha Kumar, the child’s paternal uncle, told a local TV channel, “On seeing him urinating near the temple wall, the boy told him that it was shameful to do such a thing. Priyaranjan told me about it. I told him that it was a small thing and he was a minor boy. We didn’t take it seriously and we forgot about it. But he carried revenge in his mind. That’s why he waited for half an hour here and then rammed the boy with the car.”
“When we saw the CCTV visuals, we understood that it was deliberate. The moment the boy gets up on the cycle and starts to pedal home, that’s when he accelerates the car and hits him and drives away,” the boy’s uncle said.
An officer at the Kattakada police station said Priyaranjan has been booked under section 302 (murder) of IPC and efforts are underway to nab him. Following the crime on August 30, his car was found abandoned near Peyad.
