KOZHIKODE: For six years, N.P. Vijayan waited at his home in West Hill, Kozhikode. Every sound of a motorcycle that resembled his son’s, every laugh he heard from groups of friends on the street, filled the father’s heart with a flicker of hope.
That six-year-long wait ended this week. Vijayan had been waiting for his son, Vijil, since he left on the morning of March 24, 2019, to meet his friends, promising, “I’ll be right back.” Vijil’s friends, however, had hidden the truth from the heartbroken father out of fear.
The shocking and heartbreaking details of this six-year-old missing persons case came to light after the State Police Chief ordered the reinvestigation of old cases. A special team led by Kozhikode Town ACP P. Bijuraj was tasked with finding out what happened to Vijil. The investigation quickly focused on three of Vijil’s friends—Nikhil and Depeesh—who were with him on the day he disappeared. Under intense questioning, they confessed that Vijil had died from a drug overdose.
According to Elathur Police, on March 24, 2019, the four friends met at a secluded spot near Sarovaram Biopark to use drugs. “Vijil was injected with an excessive amount of brown sugar there,” said Elathur SHO K.R. Ranjith.
“When he fell unconscious, his friends panicked. Instead of seeking medical help, they realized Vijil was dead and buried his body in a nearby swamp with a stone to weigh it down.”
Eight months later, the three men allegedly returned to dig up the body and scattered Vijil’s bones in the sea to destroy all evidence, the officer said. “We need to collect evidence from the spot where the friends buried the body. Scientific tests must be conducted before we can confirm further details,” he added.
Police are reportedly not fully convinced by the drug overdose explanation and are also investigating the possibility of murder. On Monday, police arrested Nikhil Kulangarakandi (35) of Eranjipalam and S. Depeesh (27) of Vengalam. On Tuesday, they were remanded to police custody for three days.
Nikhil and Depeesh confessed that after burying the body, they abandoned Vijil’s motorcycle and mobile phone at the Kozhikode railway station. During the evidence collection at the railway station on Tuesday, police found Vijil’s motorcycle. The friends also admitted that they had deleted the call records from the phone before abandoning it. Officials said that they will conduct an evidence collection at Sarovaram Biopark on Wednesday morning.
With input from TNIE
For more details: Navamalayalam.com
