Crime Branch arrests accused 17 years after twin murder
The Hindu
Investigators establish his link to murders at Ponekkara in Kochi following an extrajudicial confession
Seventeen years after a twin murder, including a woman who was also raped, at Ponekkara, the Ernakulam unit of the Crime Branch arrested the accused who turned out to be a serial murderer and rapist.
The arrested was identified as K.P. Jayanandan aka ripper Jayanandan who was undergoing life imprisonment in another case in a high-security cell at the Thiruvananthapuram Central Jail. The 74-year-old woman and her 60-year-old relative were murdered at their house on May 30, 2004.
After being moved to a high-security cell a year ago, the accused had developed a close bond with one of the three cell mates. An extrajudicial confession by the accused to his cell mate in a jubilant mood after the Supreme Court reduced his sentence from capital punishment to life imprisonment in a case related to the murder of a woman at Puthenvelikkara in 2006 helped investigators establish his link to the Ponekkara murders.