KANNUR: Two women accused of murdering and robbing an elderly woman in Kannur district in 2016 have been arrested after being on the run for nearly a decade, police said on Saturday.
The arrested accused have been identified as Parveen Bano and her daughter Sakina Fatima, both residents of Nangloi in New Delhi.
Crime Branch officials said they were involved in the brutal murder of 60-year-old Muradan Kunjamina, a resident of Siddiq Nagar within the limits of Erekur police station in Kannur, on April 30, 2016.
Investigators said the accused rented a house near the victim’s residence pretending to be a textile trader and gradually developed a friendship with Kunjamena.
Officials said that during their stay, they gained the trust of the elderly woman and interacted with her frequently.
On the morning of April 30, 2016, the accused allegedly lured the woman to their rented house and attacked her with a knife.
Officials said that the woman was stabbed repeatedly in the neck, chest, and stomach before the accused confirmed her death and fled with a gold chain weighing about two and a half pounds, a bracelet, and a sum of cash.
Investigators said that the two women were earlier involved in a similar crime in Andhra Pradesh and managed to obtain bail before fleeing.
To avoid arrest, the accused took several precautions, including renting houses with forged documents, disposing of their mobile phones before committing the crime, and using SIM cards obtained through others, police said.
They also avoided staying in one place for long periods of time and changed their locations frequently to escape detection.
Crime Branch officials said that after the murder, the accused resided in different parts of Kerala, including Kannur, Kasaragod, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram.
They also traveled across several states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi while remaining on the run.
Proficiency in multiple languages, including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Hindi and English, helped them move across different regions without arousing suspicion, investigators said.
The case was initially registered at Irkur Police Station in 2016.
In 2024, the investigation was handed over to the state crime branch as investigators suspected the involvement of interstate criminals, officials said.
After extensive investigation, the Crime Branch team traced the accused to Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and arrested them with the help of local police, they added.
The operation was carried out by a team led by Kannur Crime Branch Superintendent of Police P Balakrishnan Nair along with DySP Sudheer Kallan, SI Abdul Rahoof of Kannur Rural DHQ, SI Girish, SI Sudheesh and ASI Manjula.
The accused were produced before the Kannur First Class Judicial Magistrate Court and will be remanded in police custody for further interrogation, officials said.
They added that further investigations into the case are underway.
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