Thiruvananthapuram, Aug. 22: The scion of the Muthoot group, Kerala’s largest private financial services chain, has been found murdered, allegedly by a hired gang which waylaid him in the southern district of Alappuzha.

The body of Paul M. George, 27, an executive director with the Rs 20,000-crore Muthoot M. George Enterprise, was found with six stab wounds at Ponga on the Changanassery-Alappuzha road yesterday night.

Police suspect that a 12-member gang of contract killers may have murdered him at the behest of business rivals. They also do not rule out the possibility of the killing being the direct fallout of a botched business deal with the young entrepreneur from the 122-year-old group.

The inspector-general of police (Ernakulam range), Vinson M. Paul, who visited the scene of crime, was tightlipped. “We’ve just begun investigation. It’s too early to say anything,” he said.

Paul, a post-graduate from Delhi University, headed the Muthoot group’s hospitality division. Son of group chairman M.G. George, Paul had come down from Delhi in connection with the group’s business activities.

Shibu, a company chauffeur who followed Paul from Kochi to Alappuzha, a distance of about 150km, has given the police his account of the hours before and after the crime, but leaft a big gap in between.

According to Shibu, Paul was joined by two others in Kochi yesterday before he started for Alappuzha. Shibu, who followed them in Paul’s personal vehicle, was asked to overtake and fetch the keys of a newly acquired resort in the Kuttanad backwaters.

As Shibu drove to the resort, he spotted the vehicle in which Paul was travelling parked on the road and a group of men standing suspiciously near it. Shibu told the police that as he got down, the gang got into the sedan and sped away.

Shibu said he found Paul lying on the roadside with stab wounds. Manu, one of those who had travelled with the Muthoot scion, was also found lying nearby with injuries.

The chauffeur said the third person was also at the spot and followed Shibu as he rushed Paul and Manu to the Government Medical College Hospital in Alappuzha. But he left without a trace, prompting a police manhunt.

Manu told the police from his hospital bed that he had lost his balance and collapsed after the assailants stabbed him. After making this statement, he fainted.

Manu alias V.S. Praveen, who runs a car rental service in Thiruvananthapuram, had left home three days ago, telling his father, V. Vamadevan, that he was going to Coimbatore.

“There’s no reason why he should go to Alappuzha,” said Vamadevan, pleading ignorance about his son’s whereabouts.

Paul was a fourth-generation scion of Muthoot Bankers, started in 1887. Muthoot Finance is the Muthoot M George Enterprise’s most visible business venture in the state and outside, including Bengal, offering quick loans against gold.

The group has major stakes in wealth management, money transfer, forex, securities, infotech, media, education, plantation as well as housing and infrastructure.