3 held for murdering 71-year-old neighbour

Kerala police on Sunday said they have arrested three people, including a mother and her son, for allegedly murdering their 71-year-old neighbor here for gain. During interrogation, the police said, it was revealed that the trio was involved also in the murder of a 14-year-old girl last year after an illicit relationship.

The three - Rafeeka Beevi (50), her friend Al Ameen (26), and her son Shafeeq (23) - killed the neighbor Shanthakumari to steal her gold ornaments, police said.

On January 14, the son of the owner of the house, where the trio was staying, and his friends saw blood dripping to the floor from the loft indicating the possible presence of a body there, and informed the authorities, the police said.

''The body was hidden in the loft of the house and we were unable to recover the corpse at night. We thought it was Beevi's body as Ameen and Shafeeq were missing. Later, we got a missing complaint filed by a neighbor saying his mother was missing,'' the police told PTI.

Later, the police identified the body as Shanthakumari's and traced the three to Kazhakoottam, and took them into custody. The accused confessed that they killed the 71-year-old neighbor and stole her ornaments.

''During interrogation, we received information that they were involved in another murder too. Upon further questioning, they confessed to having killed a 14-year-old girl near Kovalam, where the trio was residing earlier,'' the police said.

Police said the Shafeeq was having an illicit relationship with the girl and during a scuffle that ensued between Beevi and the girl, the woman slammed the 14-year-old's head onto a wall and killed her.

Sources said the year-old murder case was pending as there were no leads.