Kerala Police suspicious over 6 siblings' death in 9 years

Six infant siblings at Tirur in Malappuram district in North Kerala died in nine years, the latest being on Tuesday.

Even as the family maintained that the children were having genetic disorders, the police launched a probe after a section of local people raised suspicions over the deaths.

Six children born to Rafeeq and Sabna of Tirur, about 25 kilometres from Malappuram town, died between 2011 and 2020. It included four girls and two boys.

The latest death was of a 93-day-old child on Tuesday. Only the fourth child lived up to three years and eight months, while the other five children died in the age ranging from one to eight months.

Even as the body of the child who died on Tuesday, reportedly after suffering fits, was buried, the police exhumed it and conducted postmortem examination.

Police sources said that a decision on whether to conduct postmortem of the remaining bodies would be taken after discussing the case with senior officers and local people.