A 39-year-long manhunt has come to an end with the arrest of Mohanan Pillai Kodiyattu, a 64-year-old man who allegedly hacked his brother-in-law to death in Kerala’s Kollam district in 1987. After the crime, Mohanan slipped into Tamil Nadu, assumed a new identity as Rajan Keshavan, and rebuilt his life. He married, had two children, and worked odd jobs at hotels and shops, but his life took a turn for the worse when he became an alcoholic.
The breakthrough in the case came when a person inquired about the Kodiyattu family at the Kottayam Government Medical College Hospital a few months ago. The police probed into the details and found that the person was Rajan Keshavan, who was living in Kottayam’s Kallara village. The police team went to Kottayam district and shared the available details with various stations in that district.
According to the police, Mohanan hacked his brother-in-law Chandrasekharan Pillai to death on January 11, 1987, due to disagreements over illicit liquor. He then went into hiding, slipping into Tamil Nadu and working as a hotel agent in Velankanni. He met his wife Valsa, who worked with a Kottayam-based family on pilgrimage, and eventually married her. The couple has two children, a 37-year-old daughter and a 35-year-old son.
Valsa says that her family was poor, and her older brother was struggling to marry her off. Hence, the proposal from Rajan, who pretended to be an orphan, was irresistible for all of them. However, Rajan’s life took a turn for the worse when he became an alcoholic and allegedly had domestic violence allegations against him.
The police revived the case recently and began looking for fresh leads. They found that Mohanan was now married and a father, had taken up jobs at hotels and local shops, and had allegedly obtained documents such as a Voter ID card and Aadhaar under his assumed name, Rajan. When the Kollam Police came knocking two weeks ago, Valsa allegedly told them that he had, in drunken moments, dropped hints about his past and had even revealed his real name.
Mohanan was tracked down to the toddy shop where he worked, and the police also allegedly found that, when drunk, Mohanan would drop similar hints about his past at the toddy shop. He denied he was Mohanan, insisting he was Rajan Keshavan and had been living in that village for three decades. However, he fumbled when probed about his family background and parents. Later, the police took him to Veliyam, where his sisters identified Rajan as the absconding Mohanan Pillai.
The police are now waiting to conduct DNA tests to formally confirm his identity as Mohanan. His family, while shocked by the revelations, also appear relieved. Valsa says that she is not going to offer him legal help and that he should be in jail, citing his alcohol addiction and violence that affected their children’s lives.
