KOTTAYAM: In a gruesome incident, a youth killed an 88-year-old man to steal latter’s monthly pension in Manimala on Tuesday. The Manimala police arrested Vilson, 36, of Vallakadav colony in Kattappana for the murder of Thomas aka Baby of Moongani. According to police, Baby had gone to the bank to withdraw his pension of Rs 1,500.
Vilson, a daily wage worker in Manimala, knew about Baby’s visit to the bank and accompanied him. After withdrawing the money, Vilson lured Baby to a deserted rubber plantation at Poovatholi near Cheruvalli offering alcohol and strangled him to death using a bath towel. The incident came to light when police launched a search operation based on the man missing complaint lodged by Baby’s relative on Tuesday afternoon.
Based on the information received from auto drivers in Manimala that they had seen Baby and Vilson together on Tuesday morning, police took the latter into custody. During the interrogation, Vilson admitted to the crime. He was produced before the court and remanded.
“Since, the accused was arrested late at night, we couldn’t conduct evidence collection from the spot along with the accused. We will seek his custody for recovering the amount stolen and collecting other evidences,” said V Ashok Kumar, Manimala inspector and SHO.