17-year-old student found murdered in Thiruvananthapuram; three taken to a police cell

The disappearance of a 17-year-old school student from Thiruvananthapuram turned into a murder investigation after police found his body stuffed in a bag from an isolated plot on Monday evening.

The victim, identified as Abhiram MD, a Plus Two student and a resident of Sangeetha Nagar in Pangappara, was allegedly murdered following a dispute allegedly related to a romantic relationship.

Three people, including a 17-year-old boy and a girl, were reportedly taken into police custody in connection with the act. Among those in custody, according to official sources, is another person identified as Umar, a recorder of history, who is suspected of helping dispose of the body.

Abhiram reportedly left his house on Sunday afternoon after telling his family that he was going to Pangappara to meet a friend. They called him before leaving. However, he did not manage to return home even late at night.

When repeated attempts to contact him failed and his mobile phone was found switched off, his family approached the Sreekaryam police and filed a complaint.

The police subsequently registered a missing man case and launched an investigation to trace the missing teenager. Investigators have been questioning Abhiram’s friends and examining CCTV footage and mobile phone tower location details to reconstruct his movements before he disappeared.

Investigations eventually led the police to an isolated plot in Pangappara on Monday night, where Abhiram’s body was found stuffed in a sack.

The location is likely known to the victim and his friends who occasionally visited the area to spend time together. After Abhiram went missing, some of his friends reportedly suspected that he might have been transported to this location and was searching the surrounding areas during the night.

Preliminary findings suggest that the murder may have stemmed from a dispute between the girl and a suspected romantic relationship. It is suspected that the 17-year-old suspect was said to be close to a girl with whom Abhiram was also communicating through social media.

Police suspect that the accused used the girl’s Instagram account to send messages to Abhiram and convince him to come to Pangappara. The victim was allegedly strangled by tightening a belt around her neck. After the murder, his body was allegedly placed in a sack and abandoned on an isolated plot of land in an attempt to cover up the crime.

The victim was a Plus Two student at NSS High School in Paruthippara. After the arrest of the suspects, Abhiram’s relatives and local residents staged a demonstration outside the Sreekaryam police station. They accused the police of not responding promptly to the parents’ complaint and failing to prevent the murder.

Published – 02 Nov 2026 22:42 IST