HC directs CBI to probe Muthoot murder

The Kerala High Court on Thursday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the Paul George Muthoot murder case and asked it to file the report in six months.

The Kerala High Court on Thursday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the Paul George Muthoot murder case and asked it to file the report in six months.

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Hearing Paul's father Muthoot M George's plea, a division bench of Chief Justice S R Banoor Muth and Thottathil Radhakrishnan passed strictures against the state police which probed the sensational case.

The scion of the Muthoot group, the largest money chain group of south India, Paul was stabbed to death on August 20 in Alapuzha, 150 kms north of Thiruvananthapuram. In his plea the father claimed that the state police were trying to shield real killers.

Expressing serious concern over the probe, the father had pointed out eighteen reasons for demanding the central agency probe. The police had committed serious lapses during investigation, political and inter-state connections of one of the key accused Om Prakash was not probed and the police planted unbelievable stories in media and some of them were proved totally wrong, he said in his petition.

Earlier, the police had ruled out a larger conspiracy and attributed it to road rage. According to the police, Kari Sateesh had stabbed Paul following a wordy duel. After hitting a motor cycle, Paul, who was on the wheels of an SUV on Aug 20 night, sped away from the scene. A gang of criminals who were travelling in two tempo travellers noticed this and chased his car and intercepted it. Soon a scuffle broke out and one of the gang members, Sateesh, stabbed Paul repeatedly resulting in his death, the police claimed. However many holes appeared in the police claim later.