The Thiruvananthapuram Rural police believe they have zeroed in on the suspect in the fatal stabbing of Athira, 33, a housewife and mother of a two-year-old child, at her residence at Kadinamkulam, a coastal suburb on the outskirts of the capital city in Kerala on Tuesday (January 21, 2025).
S. Manjulal, DySP, Attingal, identified the murder suspect as Johnson Ouseph, a physio-therapist currently living in Chellanam in Ernakulam. He also has a sizeable number of followers on Instagram, including the victim.
Mr. Manjulal told The Hindu that an intense social media friendship that turned sour had resulted in the crime of passion.
Athira’s husband, Rajesh, a priest at the nearby Bharanikad Devi temple, found his wife with a deep stab injury on her neck when he returned home after the morning pooja. The daylight murder in the safe environs of the woman’s house had precipitated a sense of insecurity in the district.
The police said there were no eye-witnesses to the murder nor any signs of struggle at the crime scene. An investigator said the police concluded that someone acquainted with Athira had killed her, and their suspicion pivoted towards Mr. Rajesh initially.
Cyber forensic inspection
However, a cyber forensic inspection of Athira’s social media activity and WhatsApp chats revealed that Johnson had befriended her in January 2024 and remained in touch for protracted periods daily. The police have not ruled out a blackmail aspect in the murder.
They also verified the digital footprints of mobile phones used in the locality and found that the suspect had initiated a SIM connection using Athira’s identity as proof. They detected its presence in the Kadinamkulam locality at the time of the murder and in the days running up to the crime.
The police ran a profile check on the accused. They found that the native of Dalavapuram in Kollam district had divorced his wife in 2021 and remained single since.
Moreover, the police concluded that the accused had made good his escape on Athira’s scooter, which investigators later found abandoned near the Chirayankeezhu railway station.
Financial transactions
The police also uncovered that the accused had rented a room in a lodge at Perumathura and stayed there for nearly a week. An investigator said Mr. Ouseph had regular financial transactions with Athira and owed her an estimated ₹1 lakh in small borrowings.
The police said they would question Mr. Rajesh again, including his statement that Athira had confessed to him about her acquaintance with Mr. Ouseph. They said the crime matched the contours of a pre-meditated murder, and there could be more to it than meets the eye.
S. Sajan, Circle Inspector, Kadinamkulam, is leading the probe. The police have despatched plainclothes squads to secure the custody of the accused and alerted their counterparts in other districts. They have also alerted their counterparts in railway stations, airports and border checkposts for the “fugitive”.
