A misunderstanding arising out of an SMS sent accidentally by a Class IX girl to a wrong person led to the murder of a 23-year-old man at a place near Kochi recently.
According to the police, the murder of Prasanth, a resident of Aluva, was the culmination of a week-long tiff triggered by the SMS. The police on Sunday arrested five youths, including the friend of the schoolgirl, in connection with the murder that took place on last Wednesday.
Aluva Assistant Superintendent of Police J Jayanath said the girl had wrongly sent an SMS to a youth Anwar, 21.
The text was about girls anguish over loss of a few marks in an exam. The girl told the police the message was originally meant for her friend Nobin, 21.
On receiving the message from an unknown number, a curious Anwar sent back a query: who are you? As there was no response, Anwar dialled the number, but the call was rejected. He tried the number several times, but the girl did not respond fearing trouble.
The girl then sought Nobins help, who, according to the police, had a criminal background. Nobin, a native of Aluva, called up Anwar and abused him. As Anwar took up the incident with his friends, they wanted to clear the confusion over the matter and promised to talk to Nobin. On Wednesday evening, Anwars friends led by Prasanth went to meet Nobin as per a fixed roadside appointment. On reaching the spot, Nobin pounced on Prasanth and stabbed him to death.
According to witnesses, Nobin did not listen to Prasanth as he pleaded that he was not Anwar and that he had not sent any SMS to the girl, the ASP said. In fact, Anwar had not even gone to the spot.
Nobin had taken four men along with him to attack Anwar. He had given an impression to his accomplices that he only wanted to beat up the youth, who had repeatedly dialled the mobile phone of his girlfriend, said Jayanath.
The ASP said Nobin had telephoned the girl before and after the crime. He told the girl that he would finish off the nuisance and would be out of the jail after six months. After the murder, he told her about it and went into hiding.
Jayanath said the girl, hailing from a broken family, has in her possession two SIM cards, although use of mobile phone was strictly banned in Kerala schools.
The investigating officer said the police were looking into how the girls message landed in Anwars mobile.
She told us that the message might have landed in a strange number as part of a `find friendship scheme offered by a cellular firm. But we are cross-checking with the service providers whether such a scheme existed or not.
We are not convinced by that version, the officer said.
