Shillong, May 31: Mystery surrounds the appearance of the suspect of the twin murders at his own house on Tuesday, a day after he was accused of killing his minor children in Nongrah Nonglum.
He went missing with the children aged four and two years of age on Monday evening and the mobile phone of his mother, which he was carrying, was switched off, adding to the worry and suspicion.
Police arrested Joefreeson Jana (28) from his mother’s house which is adjacent to his wife’s residence.
The arrest was around 7.30 pm.
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, this reporter visited the residence of the mother of the children, the suspect’s parental home and the forest area ( in picture) where the bodies were found.
According to the relatives, Jana took the minor children for a walk at 5 pm on Monday and there was nothing unusual as he used to do so in the past.
They said he also used to buy food for them after he comes back from work.
Jana works as a labourer in Nongmensong. Though he used to drink alcohol, there were no signs of violence in the past, said the relatives from his mother’s side.
“How could he commit the crime because his one shoe, jacket and pants were found from the site. The bodies in a position of holding on to each other were found covered with his jacket. If he had done it, then he will have to face the consequences”, his relatives said prior to his arrest.
Due to differences with his wife, he was staying at his mother’s house.
After the police arrested the accused, questions doing the rounds are how he landed up at his house without being noticed by anyone and where was he on Monday night and whether the weapon used for murder was recovered as the bodies were found with throats slit.
Search for bodies without police
The relatives had gone to Rynjah police station to file a complaint on Monday night.
“It was around 11.30 pm, the police asked us to wait for 24 hours and they also said they cannot track the mobile phone as the system was closed. We found it strange as the police asked us to come in the morning and hence, we carried out our own search at night without any help from the police personnel. People moved in different directions for search till 5 am and again the search continued. It was around 8.20 am that the bodies were found and then the headman was informed. It was much later that the police arrived at the scene”, the relatives said, adding the police failed in registering the case and providing personnel to carry out search at night.
The relatives pointed out since they were busy from Tuesday morning, they could not go to the police station to lodge FIR.
It was after the bodies were found by the people, the police took suo motu case.
