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The police in Kerala, on Monday, September 6, arrested Manikkunel Benoy, the suspect in the murder of a 44-year-old woman, who was found buried underneath a mud stove in her house in the Idukki district. Thamadathil Sindhu Babu, the victim who was found missing on August 12, was found buried in the kitchen of her neighbour Benoy (48) on Friday, September 3. Benoy, who was absconding after the incident in August, was arrested from the Perichamkutty Bamboo plantation in the district, according to Idukki Deputy Superintendent of Police (SP) Immanuel Paul.

"The interrogation of the accused is going on and more details will be available only after that," said the official. The police had formed a special team under the Idukki Deputy SP to arrest Benoy. On Saturday, September 4, the police exhumed the woman’s body, a day after her son found the body buried underneath a clay stove that Benoy had constructed after the murder.

Sindhu’s body was found naked, with her face covered with a plastic cover. In an attempt to conceal traces of the crime, Benoy allegedly put red and green chillies into the pit before covering it with mud. The accused then filled the area with ash and covered it with a sack with cardamom for drying. He then used the stove for cooking for the next two days.

The preliminary post-mortem report stated that the woman was strangled to death. There were signs of serious assault on the body. One rib was broken and there were several injury marks on the body.

The incident came to light after Sindhu's mother filed a missing person complaint with the Vellathooval police in Idukki on August 15. After separating from her husband, Sindhu was living in a rented house with her 12-year-old son in Idukki’s Panickankudy for six years. She then got close with her neighbour Benoy, and moved into his house with the son.

According to the police, two days before the incident, Sindu left to visit his first husband, who is a cancer patient. Benoy and Sindhu quarrelled over this on August 11. He even tried to and he tried to hang the boy, the officials said. Later that evening, Sindhu sent her son to stay with Benoy's relative. The next day, her son noticed that Sindhu was missing and informed Sindhu's relatives.

When police launched a probe to trace Benoy who had gone into hiding from August 15. However, the family alleged that the police were unable to trace Sindhu, and it was her relatives who found her body underneath the mud stove based on suspicion.