A couple in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district have been arrested for allegedly luring two youths, with whom the woman had purportedly been maintaining a relationship for some time, to their home before torturing and robbing them, police said.
Pathanamthitta police registered a case last week after a 29-year-old man alleged that he was assaulted by his girlfriend’s family. However, finding gaps in his statement, the police looked further into the matter and found that the accused couple was allegedly behind the attack. Police said the couple, after allegedly torturing him, threatened him to make up a story about being beaten up by his girlfriend’s family.
On Friday, police from the Aranmula area arrested Malayil Veetil Jayesh, 30, and his wife Reshmi, 25, both from Koipuram village. Apart from the 29-year-old, the police found that a 19-year-old was also similarly attacked by the couple.
According to police, both men had worked with Jayesh in Bengaluru and had been friends with the couple. Police claimed that Reshmi had maintained a relationship with the two men and that eventually, Jayesh found her chats with them on WhatsApp. Angered, he planned to take revenge on the two men and even roped his wife into the plan, officers said, adding that she agreed to this as part of a truce with her husband.
“The couple robbed their victims, with one of the youths losing Rs 20,000. Besides, while torturing the victims, the couple behaved in a perverted manner. The victims feared that the couple were performing black magic on them. However, the real motive of the couple has to be ascertained after detailed questioning.” said a police source.
Pathanamthitta district Superintendent of Police R Anand said a special team will probe both cases of assault. “Both cases are at their preliminary stage. We have to look into whether the accused persons have committed more crimes in the same fashion. A detailed scientific probe is required as the accused are not cooperating with the police,” he said.
Onam invite
As per the statements given to the police, the 29-year-old victim, a native of Ranni in Pathanamthitta, said, “Jayesh wanted me to come to his home on day of Onam (September 5) and join the celebrations. When I reached his house, Jayesh greeted me with pepper spray and thrashed me without any provocation. Both my hands were tied and I was hung from a wooden pole overhead. Reshmi brutally attacked me with various objects, including iron rods.”
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“While Reshmi tortured me, Jayesh recorded it on a mobile phone. My privates were stapled several times. At around 8 pm that day, the couple took me on Jayesh’s scooter and abandoned me at a location called Puthumon. As I was brutally assaulted, I was seated between Jayesh and Reshmi in the scooter. Before dropping me, they threatened me and said that I should tell others I was attacked by the family of the girl whom I love,” he said.
When locals found the seriously injured man, they took him to hospital and the police were informed. However, he initially told police that he was attacked by his girlfriend’s family as per the instructions of the couple. “The couple had threatened the youth that he would be killed if revealed anything about the torture. Hence, he gave the wrong version of events. He later recounted the horror from the couple,” an officer said.
The couple were arrested on September 12, said police.
Another victim
While interrogating them, the police learned that they had tortured another man in a similar manner on September 1. Based on the details collected from the accused couple, police traced the other victim, a 19-year-old from Alappuzha. He had also kept the incident to himself.
He told police that he was invited to the couple’s house and Jayesh picked him up on a two-wheeler from the Maramon area on September 1. At the house, he was allegedly tortured and stripped. He claimed that Jayesh switched on the camera of the mobile phone and asked him to act like he was performing sexual acts on Reshmi, and that when he refused, he was assaulted. Both his hands were tied with a shawl and he was hung by that shawl to a wooden beam on the sealing, he said. He was then allegedly beaten all over the body and pliers were used on his fingers.
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The couple took Rs 20,000 from his wallet, but gave a Rs 1,000 back for his travel expenses, he told police, adding that he was then dropped off at a nearby autorickshaw stand. They also threatened that he would later be killed.
‘Secluded life’
At Koipuram, a neighbour of the couple said they (Jayesh family) led a “secluded life” at an isolated location in the village. “They rarely interacted with others. Jayesh used to work as an operator of an earthmover while his wife had been doing odd jobs with a catering firm. But the woman used to always complain about financial constraints and hand-to-mouth existence,” said the neighbour, who did not want to be named.
Jayesh had faced a POCSO case years ago, and had been jailed. He later got married to Reshmi and the couple have two children, the neighbour said.
