Quote: Gang threatened mastermind Saritha with a larger share of stolen money, police say

Kollam: Revealing more details of the Pappachan murder case, police confirmed that former bank manager and third accused Saritha was the main culprit behind the crime, taking advantage of Pappachan's forgetfulness.

C Pappachan (82), a retired deputy general manager of BSNL, was strict about his financial affairs and spoke about his transactions only to Saritha. Pappachan had good relations with the bank officials who managed his retirement savings as fixed deposits. According to police, Saritha decided to extort Rs 40 lakh from Pappachan when she realised that his memory was failing him.

Saritha has not shown any remorse so far. A police investigation has been launched to look into Pappachan's death. The murder was initially termed as an accident after his daughter became suspicious. The murder, which was staged as an accident, was committed by Animon, a contract killer hired by Saritha. On May 26, Animon drove into Pappachan's bike in a rented car and killed him on the spot. The incident took place in a lane adjacent to the Ashramam premises.

According to police, Saritha planned the murder meticulously. She assigned bank employee Anoop to handle all of Pappachan's financial transactions. Anoop was a regular visitor to Pappachan's house. He even accompanied Pappachan to various places. On the day of the murder, Anoop lured Pappachan to the spot where the tender gang was waiting in the car and fled the crime scene. He is the fourth accused in the case. Animon and his accomplice Mahin are the first and second accused respectively. Their remand will end on Monday.

The police also revealed that while Saritha was the mastermind of the crime, the gang threatened her to pay more than what she promised. Saritha spent some of the money stolen from Pappachan. The gang extorted Rs 1.9 million from Saritha. Half of the remaining amount was given to Anoop.

The police have seized Saritha's laptop and the mobile phone used at the time of the murder. The investigation team seized the crucial evidence from Saritha's relative's house in Thiruvananthapuram. The stolen amount is yet to be recovered.