It was around 3 pm on Friday, July 30 that a group of students staying in a rented accommodation in Nellikuzhi in Kothamangalam municipality in Ernakulam district heard gunshots in their house. A young man who had come to their house, shot down their friend 24-year-old Manasa Madhavan who was doing her house surgency at the Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences in Kothamangalam. In the last few hours, it has emerged that Rakhil Raghuthaman, who shot Manasa and then killed himself, had stalked her for days and planned the murder.
According to people who knew the duo, Manasa had ended the relationship with Rakhil, an interior designer by profession, two months ago. However, it has now emerged that Rakhil was stalking Manasa, despite her father approaching the police. He moved from Kannur to Kothamangalam for this purpose and rented a lodge room on July 4. This room, as visuals show, is situated right between Manasa’s college and her room. From the room, Rakhil could observe Manasa’s house, her walking to the college and back. A curtain that covered the terrace seems to have helped Rakhil in watching Manasa without her noticing. A neighbour told the media that he had seen Rakhil lying down on the floor and watching the road below, but he didn't think it was unusual then.
Rakhil’s friend and business partner Adithyan confirmed to the media that Rakhil had moved from Kannur to Ernakulam to ‘pursue’ Manasa. Going by the statements given by the owner of the room that Rakhil rented, it seems that Manasa may have seen Rakhil in Kothamangalam the day he moved there. She went to her parents in Kannur and informed them about Rakhil stalking her and her father who works as a home guard had in turn approached the nearest police station. Officials at the station asked them to approach Kannur DySP Sadanandan, who has confirmed that he called Rakhil and warned him. According to the DySP, Manasa’s father wanted Rakhil to be warned, and therefore the DysP summoned Rakhil and his parents. Though Rakhil claimed that he would stop stalking her, he went back to Kothamangalam and tracked her movement for days, before finally deciding to shoot her dead on July 30.
"He told me he is a plywood merchant. On July 22 he went home and returned on Monday. I had no doubts about him," the owner of the lodge where Rakhil stayed told the media.
Though Rakhil had told his lodge owner in Kothamangalam that he was staying there for business purposes, his friend Adithyan told the media that Rakhil had gone to Kothamangalam to meet Manasa. He also said that Rakhil and Manasa met through Instagram.
"He was in a mindset to get back into a relationship with her, I had no clue that he would go to this extent. He told me that he would talk to her one last time," he said. Rakhil’s brother Rahul told Asianet News that his brother had another breakup before this and this was the second one. He also said that though the police warned him, his brother was not ready to move on.
Rakhil used a factory made pistol to shoot Manasa and himself. The police believe that he would have paid a few lakhs to buy this gun. According to reports, Rakhil had travelled to Karnataka and Bihar in July. Investigators are now trying to find from where he purchased the gun and whether any of his friends accompanied him on this trip. Police sources from Kothamangalam said that the pistol Rakhil was foreign made and would have cost around Rs 4 lakh.
Saju T Das, a ballistic expert, told the media that the pistol used by Rakhil cannot be made locally, that he might have bought it illegally from some dealers.