Says she is staying at Kevin’s house to atone for the crime committed by her kin

The wife of a Dalit Christian youth, who was allegedly killed last year, testified before a court here on Thursday against her father and a former sub-inspector (SI) of police.

Deposing before Principal Sessions Judge C. Jayachandran, Neenu Chacko, wife of Kevin P. Joseph, stated that both Kevin and she had received threats from her father Chacko and Niyas, the second accused and a relative of Neenu.

Neenu, who is a witness in the case, spoke of an attempt by her relatives to take her forcefully into a car from the Gandhinagar police station.

According to her statement, M.S. Shibu, the then sub-inspector of the Gandhinagar police station, had caught Kevin by the neck while mediating the issue, and insisted on Neenu going with her father. After she resisted, Shibu demanded her to give it in writing that she was going on her own wish.

Besides Chacko, Niyas had also called her up in the presence of her mother Rehna and warned that she would not be permitted to live with a man from a lower caste at any cost.

Neenu told the court that she had decided to stay back at Kevin’s house to atone for the crime committed by her relatives. The examination of Neenu, which began at 10 a.m., lasted till 3 p.m.

The prosecution also examined Shibu, a fireman, who had recovered Kevin’s body from a stream at Thenmala. According to his statement, the water level of the stream, while recovering the body, was only waist-deep.

To back the statement, a video clip of the Fire and Rescue Services personnel recovering Kevin’s body was played before the judge. The court is slated to examine more witnesses, including Betty Benny, the manager of the hostel where Neenu had been staying, on Friday.

As per the prosecution’s case, a gang led by Shyanu Chacko, brother of Neenu and first accused in the case, abducted Kevin from his relative’s residence at Mannanam on May 28, 2018, and chased him to a stream at Chaliyakkara, near Thenmala, with the intention to kill him.

There are 14 accused in the case and based on a preliminary hearing, the court had framed charges against all the accused under 10 sections, including murder.