Motta Navas

Case record: Motta Navas

Status

Motta Navas was currently in custody awaiting trial.

Background

Motta Navas was born in 1966 and was 46 at the time of the November 2012 arrest.

He operated in the city of Kollam, Kerala, India between June and August 2012. He targeted pavement and hutment dwellers, including people living in shanty-like structures erected in the street against walls of private properties. The victims were reported to have been bludgeoned to death while they slept, with all murders taking place at night.

Navas was described as a drug addict. He used to sleep by 8 p.m. and wake up at midnight to roam the city, targeting victims. Police suspected him to be psychopathic.

It was stated that early murders included convictions for murder. In 1996, he was arrested on charges of murdering Rajasekaran at Mundakkal in Kollam and was jailed for four years. He was acquitted because there were no witnesses. In 2007, he was arrested again on charges of murdering one Shamir at Karikode in the city; he was arrested and convicted. He came out of jail the previous year.

The offence

Between June and August 2012, a series of brutal murders took place in Kollam and nearby areas. Pavement and hutment dwellers were bludgeoned to death while they slept.

The killings were committed at night using stones or hard, blunt objects. The reports described the victims as easy targets and said there was no effort to hide the work. The lack of any obvious motive was described as indicating that the victims were merely objects on which to vent a homicidal rage.

The police reported that Navas had confessed to the murders.

Murder sequence and attempted murders (2012)

• June 6 (night) — The first murder took place under the flyover where the underpass was located. The victim, aged about 65 years, was hit on the head with a huge stone while he was sleeping under a flyover. He was under the SP Office Junction flyover which was under construction. He was yet to be identified.
• June 7 (very next night) — The second murder took place on the veranda of a shop near the Mulankadakam temple. Appukuttan Achary was bludgeoned in the nape of his neck, fatally damaging the spine.
• June 18 (night) — The third murder took place under the same flyover as the first murder. Bondan Kumar, 65, was hit on the head with a stone.
• August 3 — Thankappan, 55, a native of Sasthamcotta, was found dead inside a bus waiting shed/inside the waiting shed of the Saint Joseph’s Convent School bus stand. He was found in a pool of blood. He was sleeping in the shed when Navas allegedly attacked.
• August 21 (night) — The fifth murder took place at the veranda of the Municipal Building in Chinnakkada. Sudarsanan, 45, was hit on the head with a stone.

It was also stated that Navas had attempted two more murders, but the victims escaped with injuries. The victims’ names were not released.

Investigation

After the second murder, police suspected Navas and took him into custody. He pretended to be mentally challenged and was admitted to a mental asylum / Government Mental Health Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. Psychiatrists found him mentally fit, and he was discharged. He came back to Kollam and allegedly committed the other murders.

Night patrol teams had noticed Navas loitering in the city on those days. On seeing the police party, he feigned mental illness and was ignored by the police.

After investigations lasting about a fortnight, police arrested Navas.

Arrest

Motta Navas was arrested from the Nehru Park area in the city on 2 November 2012 / was arrested on Friday night / after a series of murders, with a separate statement that he was arrested on November 1, 2012. He was produced before a magistrate court and was remanded to the district jail.

The police team that arrested him was led by Kollam East Circle Inspector V. Sugathan, with Sub Inspector G. Gopakumar, and senior civil police officer Prasanna Kumar. The Kollam police arrest was described as being after an emergency meeting where directions were issued to constitute a special team headed by the City Police Commissioner Debesh Kumar Behera.

Trial

No trial outcome was stated; Navas remained in custody awaiting trial.

Appeals

No appeals were stated.

Outcome

The case outcome was that Motta Navas remained in custody awaiting trial.

Other details

The police described the case as reminiscent of 41 killings by Raman Raghav in Mumbai in the mid 1960s.

Verbatim quotations

"Motta" Navas, Bashed Victims Heads in with a Rock