22-year-old IT worker attacks family with machete, hangs self in Kerala

A 22-year-old IT professional, suspected to be mentally unstable, today allegedly attacked five members of his family here with a machete, injuring two of them seriously, before hanging himself, police said.

Ashwin, who was working in an IT firm in Coimbatore, reached home in Badiyadukka on Saturday morning and attacked his father, mother, grandmother and two other relatives with a machete around 2.30 pm on Sunday, Sub-Inspector Damodharan said.

Neighbours rushed to the house on hearing the screams, after which Ashwin fled the spot.

They informed the police and rushed the injured to a private hospital in Kasargod, Damodharan said.

Police shifted the injured to a private hospital at Mangaluru where the condition of his mother and grandmother, who suffered head injuries, was stated to be serious.

Later, police found Ashwin hanging from a tree at a nearby plantation.

Ashwin was previously working in an IT company at Bengaluru, Damodharan said.

The reason for the attack is yet to be ascertained, he said, adding, the youth is reportedly a drug addict and mentally unstable.

A case has been registered under section 174 of CrPC (police to inquire and report on suicide, etc) and further investigations are on, he said.