THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The murder of a 17-year-old boy, whose body was found stuffed inside a sack and dumped in a vacant plot, was a pre-planned act, police said on Wednesday.Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner Arul B Krishna said the girl accused in the case allegedly knew two to three days before the incident that the main accused was planning to kill 17-year-old Abhiram.“According to our preliminary investigation, she was aware of the plan, what happened on the day of the incident, and what was done subsequently to destroy the evidence. We need to find out if she was an active participant in the crime. We suspect her of being actively aware of the entire plan and trying to destroy evidence in the case,” the officer told news agency PTI.He said the investigation would be intensified and that police had already gathered substantial digital evidence, including CCTV footage and mobile tower location data, which could not be destroyed.“We will get more evidence in the coming days,” he asserted.The main accused was a senior to the victim at school, and both lived in the same locality and shared common friends.The officer said the incident stemmed from a minor dispute linked to the main accused’s previous relationship with another girl and the problems he faced as a result. The dispute eventually led to Abhiram’s murder.“The main accused had told the third accused girl that Abhiram would have to be killed, as per messages shared between them. So, there was preparation and planning behind the crime. The victim was called to the incident site with a clear intention,” Krishna said.He said that the investigation till now has revealed that the main accused planned to commit an “extreme act” and, as part of that, had purchased a sack to hide the body.“Nobody would do all that for something that happened by mistake. It was fully planned. The main accused used the third accused’s phone, in her presence, to lure the victim,” he said.The officer further said police suspect that one or two other persons may also have been involved, as they were allegedly aware of the crime and had promised to help conceal or destroy the evidence.He also said that social media platforms were being used by people with criminal tendencies to commit offences and therefore, children in our families should be informed about their potential misuse and the need for self-regulation when using them.The victim was allegedly lured to the spot through Instagram messages sent from the co-accused girl’s phone.Police have arrested the main accused, who is a juvenile, along with two others, including Umar, who is allegedly involved in several other criminal cases.The juvenile was sent to an observation home on Tuesday for 10 days by the Juvenile Justice Board.Abhiram’s body was found on Monday, stuffed inside a sack and dumped among banana plants in an isolated plot at Pangappara near Sreekaryam.His parents had approached the Sreekaryam police after he failed to return home, and the body was recovered after some of his friends were questioned.A preliminary examination suggested he had been strangled, a police officer said.On Tuesday, Abhiram’s father raised questions about the circumstances surrounding his son’s murder, claiming that the 17-year-old was not the intended target. He alleged that his son was killed after refusing to bring another boy to the spot at the accused’s request.According to his father, the main accused, also a 17-year-old, called Abhiram using a phone belonging to the co-accused girl and asked him to come to Pangappara.After Abhiram reached the spot, he was allegedly asked to bring another friend there. His father claimed the group was actually targeting that friend and that Abhiram was killed after refusing to comply.(With agency inputs)
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