Daijiworld Media Network - Thiruvananthapuram (SP)
Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 18: The accused police officer who brutally killed and set on fire a woman police official named Soumya Pushpakaran, has since revealed why he chose to eliminate the woman he loved the most.
Ajaz, a policeman, who happens to be the murder-accused, was subjected to intensive questioning by the police. During this period, the police came to know that Ajaz had planned to commit suicide after killing Soumya. This information was given by police sub-inspector of Vallikunnam station, Saiju Ibrahim.
Soumya (left) and Ajaz
Soumya had met Ajaz three years back for the first time when she was posted to Thrissur to undergo training at the police academy there where Ajaz happened to be a trainer. Later, the two had become friends on Facebook, which continued during the last three years. The only other person having knowledge of this friendship happens to be Soumya's mother, Indira. The sub-inspector said that the two also had some financial dealings between them.
As Soumya's husband works abroad, she was staying with her mother and three children. Soumya, who was very close to her mother, was in the habit of revealing everything about herself and her life to her mother.
Ajaz, in the meantime, expressed his desire to marry Soumya. He began to pressurise her to desert her husband and three children and live with him. Soumya, realizing that continuing his friendship could be detrimental to her life, tried to keep distance from Ajaz, the sub-inspector said. Ajaz however persisted with pestering her. As differences of opinion arose between the two on the issue, Soumya had blocked the Whatsapp number of Ajaz. She also refused to pick cellphone calls emanating from him. Ajaz, who was infuriated by this attitude, killed Soumya and torched her. He also tried to end his own life thereafter, Saiju Ibrahim said.
The official said that Ajaz killed Soumya purposefully. Being a police officer on duty, he was well aware of the result of committing crimes. He had bought a sharp knife from some market for killing Soumya, the police have found.
Speaking to media representatives, Soumya's mother, Indira, recollected that Ajaz had behaved in such a senseless manner even in the past. She recounted that on one occasion; he had poured petrol on Soumya and thrashed her on her back in a crude manner with a shoe. "I offered to speak to him but Soumya stopped me. She said that Ajaz would be on his own if we keep aloof," she said, adding that she lost her loving daughter because of the ulterior designs of Ajaz.
Indira had raised her children by undertaking tailoring work as Soumya's father was bedridden. Soumya has left behind her husband, who works abroad, two sons aged ten and seven, and a four-year-old daughter. The two elder children are in a state of shock at the murder of their mother while the small one is unaware of the catastrophe that has hit the family, sub-inspector Saiju stated.
On the fateful last Saturday, Soumya was returning home after duty hours in a two-wheeler. Ajaz, who followed her in a car, knocked her vehicle with his car as a result of which she fell down. Soumya, realizing that Ajaz wanted to kill her, began to run away. Ajaz chased her, stabbed her with a knife, poured kerosene on her, and started fire. Soumya, who suffered grave injuries, died on the spot.
Ajaz thereafter torched himself. But he survived with 50 percent burns. He was immediately admitted into the intensive care unit of Alappuzha Medical College and Hospital and treated.