A man in southern India and an accomplice have been arrested for the 2006 murder of his girlfriend and her newborn twins, whom she claimed were his children.
The victims, 24-year-old Ranjini and her 17-day-old twins, were found dead on February 10, 2006, in Kollam, a city in Kerala, India. Nearly 19 years later, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two men in connection with the crime... Continue reading here ▶
The suspects, 42-year-old Divil Kumar B. and 48-year-old Rajesh P., were arrested on January 4 in Puducherry, a city more than 350 miles away from Kollam. Reports indicate that both men, former Indian Army members, were living under fake identities at the time of their arrest.
The investigation began after Ranjini’s mother discovered her daughter and the twins dead at home. Ranjini, who had given birth on January 24, 2006, was in a relationship with Divil. However, Divil denied being the father of the twins. When Ranjini sought help from the state government, Divil was ordered to take a DNA test to confirm paternity.
Authorities believe that after being ordered to take the DNA test, Divil decided to kill Ranjini and the twins. He allegedly enlisted his colleague Rajesh to help carry out the crime.
Rajesh reportedly befriended Ranjini’s family under a fake name, Anil Kumar, and offered financial assistance. On February 10, 2006, he allegedly dropped Ranjini’s mother at a government office to obtain birth certificates for the twins. While she was away, police say he went to Ranjini’s home and killed her and the children. Ranjini’s throat was slit, but the cause of the twins’ deaths was not specified.
After the murders, Divil initially cooperated with police but later fled and lived under a false identity for nearly 20 years.
Police used advanced tools like AI and reverse-image search to track down the suspects. They generated an age-progressed image of Divil and matched it with a photo on social media. Investigators located him in Puducherry, where he had been living under the name Vishnu, running an interior design business and living with his wife and children.
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