Police arrest man who laid wild boar trap that electrocuted two cops in Kerala

Havildars Ashok Kumar, 35, and Mohandas, 36, died of electrocution from the trap kept for wild boar in the paddy field

Police have arrested a man in connection with the death of two police havildars of the Muttikulangara armed reserve unit camp. Their bodies were found in a nearby paddy field on Thursday.

Suresh, 49 of Varkkad in Muttikulangara, has been charged under section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and destruction of evidence.

Havildars Ashok Kumar, 35, and Mohandas, 36, died of electrocution from the trap kept for wild boar in the paddy field.

Palakkad district superintendent of police R Viswanath told media persons here on Friday that Suresh kept a trap for wild boar in the paddy field bordering his house. The electric connection to the trap was given from the kitchen of his house, the police officer said.

Suresh, after giving connection to the trap at 10 pm, had gone to sleep. “At around 1.30 am, there was a beep sound in his house which alerted him of a catch in the trap. Subsequently, he switched off the connection and went outside to see whether any wild boar had been trapped. Instead, he saw two police personnel lying dead,” Vishwanath said.

Soon, he removed the trap from the paddy fields where he had kept it and hid it along with the service wire in his house. Later, he carried one of the bodies on his shoulder and dropped it about 200 metres away from his house. “Since the second body was heavy, he took it in a single wheel pushcart and dropped it a little away from the first one,” said Viswanath.

The mobile phones carried by the two police personnel were also taken and kept near their bodies by Suresh.

The SP said that Suresh was a habitual wildlife offender. He used to kill wild animals and share them with others. There was a case pending against him charged by the forest department for killing wild boar in 2016, the trial of which was in progress.

Police sources said that usually there is no movement of people in that area at night. The paddy fields which bordered the plantain garden of the house of Suresh lay attached to the compound wall of the Kerala Armed Police (KAP) II camp. The two havildars who jumped the compound wall landed on the paddy fields on their way to the nearby pond to catch fish during the rains.