Kozhikode police have arrested a man who has been accused of murder for mixing cyanide with liquor. The accused, identified as 46-year-old Palathingal Santhosh, is a goldsmith by profession and resides in the region of Paravoor. Santhosh apparently held a personal grudge against one Sajith Kumar, whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife. Santhosh had mixed the poison in liquor which Sajith later purchased from him.

Sajith had offered the liquor to 75-year-old Thigannayi as an offering for a ritual he was conducting. On October 3, Thigannayi, his 35-year-old son Pramod, and another relative 40-year-old Prasad, all died after consuming the poisoned alcohol. All three victims collapsed immediately after consuming the laced alcohol and lab tests conducted revealed the presence of potassium cyanide.

Police at first took Sajith into custody and upon investigation, it was discovered that he had no connection to the murders and that Santhosh was the actual accused.

According to the police, Santhosh blamed Sajith for the suicide of his brother-in-law a few years ago and was also suspicious that Sajith was having an affair with his estranged wife after he saw the two traveling in a car together.

Santhosh had intended to make the death appear due to illicit liquor by transferring the contents of the bottle he had bought into a bottle of brandy with a label from Tamil Nadu. He had spiked the liquor with potassium cyanide that he had stolen from a goldsmith’s shop that he worked at about a year and a half ago.