Long-term personal enmity led to double murder in Kerala's Palakkad: Police

Palakkad (Kerala): Long-standing personal enmity was the motive behind the double murder of an elderly woman and her 53-year-old son allegedly by their neighbour Chenthamara in this north Kerala district two days ago, police said on Wednesday.

A day after Chenthamara was caught following a massive manhunt, police said the accused showed no remorse and instead appeared happy with his alleged actions.

Lakshmi (72), and her son Sudhakaran were allegedly hacked to death in broad daylight by the 58-year-old Chenthamara, outside their residence in Pothundi here on Monday morning.

The accused, who was in hiding since the incident, was apprehended late Tuesday night and is presently in custody of the police, which have booked him for the offence under section 103 (murder) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Palakkad SP Ajith Kumar told reporters at a press briefing here.

The SP said that the accused had revealed a lot of things, including the reason for carrying out the murders, during his initial round of questioning and his answers needed to be cross-verified.

"What I am telling you are only the preliminary findings which are yet to be corroborated," he said.

The officer said that there was a long-standing personal enmity between the families of the victims and the accused and it had escalated since the alleged murder of Sudhakaran's wife Sajitha by Chenthamara in 2019.

"He (Chenthamara) believes that his wife left him due to the interference of the victims' family," the officer said, adding that the murders appeared pre-planned as the accused had bought a weapon and kept it ready for use.

The accused during questioning denied he met anyone who practices black magic, but it has to be verified, police further said.

The officer also said that the accused was also trying to mislead the police as he claimed that he had consumed poison.

"His (accused) medical examination did not reveal any poison in his system. We suspect he is trying to mislead the police," he said.

The SP also gave details of how Chenthamara avoided capture for more than 24 hours after the incident.

"He ran into the nearby forested hill. He is very familiar with the surrounding area and knows how and where to hide. He was watching the police search operations from hiding," the officer said.

It was hunger which forced Chenthamara to come out of hiding and led to his capture near his home where he was going to get food, police said.

"As police were deployed in large numbers, we were able to take him into custody safely," the SP said.

The accused will be produced before a magistrate during the day and he will be remanded to judicial custody, he added.

"After one or two days, we will seek his custody, to take him to the scene of the crime and recreate the incident in his presence," the officer said.

Chenthamara allegedly committed the crime on Monday while out on bail, having previously been arrested for the murder of Sudhakaran's wife in 2019.

The police have faced criticism from the Congress party and Sudhakaran's children, who alleged that the Nenmara police failed to act despite being informed by locals and relatives of the deceased that Chenthamara had returned to the village in violation of his bail conditions.