Thiruvananthapuram: Two days after the murder of a woman in a train at the Kannur railway station on Monday, police in Kerala are still searching for the supect. Police have released a sketch of the suspect, based on inputs given by a temporary railway employee who had seen the suspect before the murder.
The deceased woman, identified as Fathima (41) of Kondotti in Malappuram district was first seen sitting in the Kannur-Alappuzha train and then found running on the platform after having been set alight, apparently by the man who had been with her. The temporary railway employee, M. Govindan, said he had seen the man shouting at the woman before the incident.
The woman was taken to the Kozhikode Medical College after being administered first aid at a local hospital. She, however, succumbed to burns by evening on Monday. Police could not take a statement from the woman because she had suffered over 50 per cent burns and was in a semi-conscious condition.
The suspect is believed to have fled the scene immediately. Railway and local police are collaborating in the investigations.
Meanwhile, police confirmed that the body of a man found on the railway track in Kuttipuram on Wednesday was not that of the suspect in the Kannur murder case.
Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala said measures would be taken to ensure safe travel of women in trains. He said there would be closed circuit cameras in compartments, and that he had written to the federal railway minister in this regard.
In February, 2011 the murder and rape of a young Keralite woman had shocked the state. Soumya (23), who was soon to be get married, was puhsed out of the train near the Vallathol Nagar station by one Govindachamy, who then raped the seriously injured woman. She was commuting home after work when the incident happened, and had been alone in the ladies’ compartment.
Nine months after the death of Soumya, the Thrissur fast track court handed Govindachamy the death sentence. In December 2013, the high court confirmed the death sentence. Govindachamy had been a habitual offender in neighbouring Tamil Nadu state.
