Police said Shino Mathew was admitted to a private hospital after consuming poison a week ago, after allegedly killing his wife.
Representational Image. (iStock)
The prime accused in Kerala’s sensational partner-swapping case, who allegedly consumed poison soon after his wife was found murdered a week ago, died at a Government Medical College Hospital on Monday, 29 May.
Police said Shino Mathew was initially admitted to a private hospital after consuming poison.
He was later shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kottayam, where he died at around 4 am while undergoing treatment.
Shino had told doctors that he had bought the poison online.
Earlier, the family of the deceased 26-year-old woman had alleged that it was Shino who had hacked her to death at her father’s residence.
According to police, it was her children who first found her lying in a pool of blood at home in Manarcadu near Kottayam on 19 May.
The incident occurred when her father and brother were away at work and the children were out playing.
Even though the police tried to interrogate Shino regarding the murder, the hospital authorities denied them permission on the ground that his condition was critical.
It was in January this year, the police busted a gang allegedly involved in partner-swapping based on the deceased woman’s complaint.
Seven people, including Shino, were arrested for their alleged involvement in the case.
The woman alleged that her husband forced her to have sexual relations with another person.
Following the complaint, the Karukachal police in the Kottayam district nabbed her husband and his friend.
Following the arrest, a network behind the crime was unearthed by the police. Shino was part of the “couple sharing” group.
The woman had earlier claimed that she was also subject to unnatural sex.
According to the police, more than 1,000 couples were in these groups and they were exchanging women.
People who are in the higher echelons of society were part of this group, as per sources.
“The modus operandi is to first join the Telegram and Messenger groups and then two or three couples meet periodically. After that women are exchanged and there were even instances of a woman being shared by three men at a time. Money also changed hands in the case of single members in the group, with some men providing their wives for money for a day of physical relationship,” a senior police officer from Kottayam had said then.
Police are investigating the case to get the minute details of those who were involved in this women’s exchange group and whether these group members have relationships with any other groups.
A similar case was registered in 2019 when police busted a wife-swapping network in Kayamkulam.
The group reportedly exchanged their wives for sexual relations with others using ShareChat, a social network app.
(With PTI inputs)
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