A week after Palode-based businessman Mohanan Nair was found lying in a pool of blood with deep stab injuries on his chest, the police are yet to make any arrests, though teams have set out to neighbouring States in search of a man and a woman, both suspects in the case and believed to be residents of Manacaud in the city.
M. Saibuddin, Deputy Superintendent of Police (Nedumangad), said there were two suspects, the arrests of whom could throw more light on the murder.
Sources said indications were that the murder was a fallout of money dealings that Mohanan Nair had with the suspects. Nair, apart from running a hardware store and a fancy shop, was active in the money-lending business, the police said. The statement of an autorickshaw driver, who reportedly went on a trip called for by one of the suspects on the night of the murder, is believed to have turned the investigation towards Nair’s cash dealings, and in turn, towards the suspects from Manacaud.
The 48-year-old Nair, a resident of Ilavattom near Palode, was found lying on the road near his home with grievous chest injuries late last Sunday.
Passersby had seen him lying on the road around 10.30 p.m. and believing that he was an accident victim, had rushed him to the Nedumangad government hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Doctors stated that the cause of death was deep injuries inflicted with a sharp weapon on the chest. The police said he was stabbed multiple times.
Preliminary probe had revealed that Nair had a visitor around 10 p.m. on Sunday, with whom Nair went out. His son Sandeep told the police that though he did not know the visitor he could identify him.
It was half an hour later that passers-by found Nair lying on the Thiruvananthapuram-Tenkashi highway, barely 150 metres away from his home.
