In a gruesome incident, a young woman doing her Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) was allegedly shot dead by a man, who then shot himself and died moments later at Nellikuzhi near Kothamangalam in Ernakulam district on Friday evening.
The deceased, a 24-year-old from Kannur, was doing her house surgency at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences, Nellikuzhi. The accused was identified as Rakhil (32) of Melur in Kannur. They were reportedly known to each other after meeting over Instagram about a year ago.
As per preliminary reports, the victim was at her paying guest accommodation in the immediate neighbourhood of the campus when the accused turned up allegedly with what was identified as a country-made pistol. The victim was having food with three other girls when the accused arrived. She then questioned as to why he was there.
Gun shots
He then reportedly summoned her to the next room, following which loud noises were heard, which were later learnt to be gun shots. While the girl sustained bullet wounds on her head and chest, the man sustained a wound on his head. They were rushed to a nearby hospital where both were declared brought dead.
“We will conduct a ballistic examination of the weapon on Saturday to identify its make and other finer details. It also needs to be found out from where the accused procured the weapon,” said K. Karthik, District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural).
Stalking suspected
It is learned that the accused had probably followed the victim in the area and had been moving around in the locality for nearly a month under the pretext of being a worker. There are unconfirmed reports that the victim, along with her family, and the accused had met in the presence of police in Kannur and the latter had assured not to meet her again.
“We will form a special investigation squad to probe the incident in detail,” said Mr. Karthik.
The post-mortem examination of the bodies will be held at the Government Medical College, Kalamassery, on Saturday.
Published - July 30, 2021 08:57 pm IST
