In an incident that has sent shockwaves across Kerala, four bodies of a family were found buried behind their home in Thodupuzha in the Idukki district of Kerala on Wednesday, 1 August.
Police recovered the bodies of Kannatu Krishnan (52), his wife Susheela (50), their daughter Aarsha (21) and their son Arjun (18) from a hole that was dug behind their house in Mundanmudy, an area in Thodupuzha.
Neighbours had approached the police as they had not seen any of the family members for a few days. The locals claim that they sensed something was wrong when they had not seen Krishnan coming to buy milk for a couple of days.
As per reports, the police found blood stains on the walls inside the house and there was blood on the floors. During inspection, the police found a freshly dug ground in the compound.
The bodies were stacked one on top of the other. They found Arjun's body first, followed by his sister Aarsha. Susheela and Krishnan's bodies were found underneath the children.
All four had been severely wounded. “All four had injuries on their faces, Krishnan’s face was fully damaged. The boy too had severe wounds, the girl had injuries on the back,” one of the policemen involved in digging at the site said.
Krishnan’s wife Susheela had been wounded majorly on her chest.
There are also reports doing the rounds that Krishnan used to practice black magic at his house. According to people around, a police complaint had been registered against him a few years ago for practicing magic.
His brother, Yanjeswar is reported to have said that at nights, various people in cars used to come to visit Krishnan.
The family is also known to have kept away from people and the society, as per the neighbors and family members. The responsibility of the investigation has been handed over to a special team lead by the Thodupuzha DySP.
While forensic experts, dog squads and others have been engaged, the bodies were shifted to the Kottayam medical college. Police sources say that they believed that the murder had been carried out by more than one person.
(This was first published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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