Vaiga murder: Cops take Sanu for evidence collection

Kochi: Though court has granted the

custody

of

Sanu Mohan

, who is accused of murdering his 13-year-old daughter Vaiga, to the police for 10 days, the

investigation

team is trying to resolve the confusion that arose from his

contradictory statements

.

Though sources within Kochi police said that the accused has started cooperating with the investigation, it is learnt that the police plan to rush the evidence collection by recreating Mohan’s trail within and outside the state before the expiry of the custody period.

On Tuesday, the accused was taken to different places within the city including the apartment complex in Kangarappady where he resided as part of evidence collection. The police also took him to the spot in Muttar River where he had reportedly dumped Vaiga’s body.

“Evidence collection must be completed before the custody period expires and for that we may have to visit several places within and outside Kerala to recreate the trail of the accused. Material evidence is also crucial in strengthening the case. A credible explanation is yet to be found regarding the presence of alcohol inside Vaiga’s body,” said a top source.

The accused was arrested from Karwar in Karnataka on Sunday after a manhunt that lasted nearly one month. On Monday, district police chief (Kochi City) CH Nagaraju had said that the accused contradicted his own statements several times. If he does not cooperate, evidence collection might not go as planned by the police, he had said.

Police spent more than an hour at the accused’s residence on Tuesday to collect evidence. As per his statements, Mohan tried to smother Vaiga inside the flat before carrying her body on his shoulders to his car. The accused reportedly told the police about the sequence of events that happened at the flat. Later on Tuesday afternoon, police took him to the regulator-cum-bridge in Muttar River to know how he dumped his daughter’s body.

Police are also keen on collecting digital evidence against the accused though he cleverly avoided the use of smartphones or ATM card while he was on the run. Sources said that police have seized a smartphone used by Mohan before he went into hiding. A search has been launched to recover other digital devices he had used.

Meanwhile, police, who believe that Mohan acted alone, are likely to take the statements of his wife in the coming days.