The Elathur police on Monday (September 8) carried out extensive searches at a wetland area near the Sarovaram bio park in Kozhikode city as part of the efforts to retrieve the skeletal remains of 35-year-old Vijil, a West Hill native who reportedly died of drug overdose in a mysterious circumstance six years ago and was allegedly buried secretly by two of his friends to hush up the incident.
Ground-penetrating radar would be used on Tuesday (September 9) to scan the suspected burial spot, apart from deploying a human remains detection dog (HRDD) by the K9 squad. The two previously arrested friends- K.K. Nikhil, 35, of Eranhipalam and S. Deepesh, 27, of Vengeri- who were released from police custody again on Monday, were also brought to the spot to collect more evidence in the case.
Police sources said the alleged incident took place on March 24, 2019. It was earlier registered as a man missing case, as there were no clues about him. The mystery behind the mysterious disappearance was cracked following a reinvestigation into the incident led by Assistant Commissioner of Police P. Bijuraj and Elathur station house officer K.R. Ranjith.
“A breakthrough happened in the case when some of the officers with the investigation team managed to piece together the final days of the victim and the activities of his friends who were with him on that day. At the end of an intense interrogation, the friends who made contradictory statements were disclosing the details of the shocking incident,” said a Sub Inspector with the investigation team. He said Vijil was allegedly injected with a fatal shot of brown sugar, which instantly led to his collapse and death.
Instead of giving medical support, the friends reportedly panicked after seeing the collapsed man and fled the spot, the police sources said. They came back to the spot the next day and buried his body in a nearby marshy land and weighed it down with heavy stones, the sources said.
“A few months after the secret burial, the suspect had attempted to collect the skeletal remains of the victim and immerse them in the sea to destroy the evidence. We are yet to rule out the possibility of a planned murder, though the accused have been temporarily charged under sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code,” said a senior police officer from Elathur station. He said efforts were on to nab one more suspect at large.
A motorcycle reportedly used by Vijil had already been recovered as part of gathering evidence in the case. According to police sources, the suspected friends were removing the two-wheeler from the crime spot to divert the investigation into the missing case. Similarly, they had thrown away Vijil’s mobile phone after deleting the data and call records.
The case was reinvestigated following a petition submitted by Vijil’s father N.P. Vijayan to the State Police Chief. Police sources said the hapless man had been desperately waiting for the return of his son for over six years.
