ALAPPUZHA: Cherthala judicial first-class magistrate (JFCM) court, on Tuesday, remanded Sebastian, the first accused in the document forgery case, in police custody till July 13. Sebastian, is also the main accused in the Alappuzha woman missing case.The brother of the missing realtor, Bindhu, had filed a police complaint last year after which, Sebastian was arrested in Kochi on Saturday. He was caught when he was about to surrender before the chief judicial magistrate court in Ernakulam. He told the police that he had no role in the case.On Monday, the court had remanded Sebastian for 14 days, after which the special investigation team (SIT) led by AG Lal moved a petition on Tuesday seeking five-day police custody of the accused. “SIT arrested one Thankachan (54) from Cherthala for making a fake driving licence in Bindhu’s name at Mettupalayam,” Lal said.T Mini (alias Jaya), the second accused in the case, had surrendered before the court earlier. She had confessed that she had signed certain documents claiming to be Bindhu at the behest of Sebastian to sell the properties that were registered in Bindhu’s name.SIT found that Mini was involved in the forgery case and documents such as power of attorney, driving licence and SSLC book of Bindhu was forged to make the fraudulent transaction. The mystery behind Bindhu’s disappearance deepened after Manoj (46) of Thaikkoottathil house in Pallipuram – an auto driver known to Sebastian and Bindhu – committed suicide. Manoj was found hanging at home on June 28 when police asked him to appear for questioning.In May 2018, police began an investigation after her brother Praveen P Pillai filed a complaint. He said that Bindhu, who owned assets worth crores of rupees, had gone missing. Her parents are dead Pillai, who lives in Italy, did not have any idea of her whereabouts as she was living alone He added that some real estate brokers – including Sebastian – had taken possession of her assets after forging documents. Praveen said that Sebastian, the prime accused who is on the run, knows what happened to his sister. Bindhu was staying alone at her home (Padmanivas).Praveen collected the details of the land dealings from Edappally sub-registrar office in Ernakulam and found out that all the documents used in the name of Bindhu were fake.

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