Is Arun Anand (36), the man who brutally assaulted and caused the death of his live-in partner’s seven-year-old son in Idukki’s Thodupuzha last year, also behind the death of the boy’s father? The Crime Branch in Thodupuzha has begun the probe over the suspicious death of the seven-year-old boy’s father, Anil*, who is suspected to have died after he consumed a glass of allegedly poisoned milk in 2018. Soon after Anil’s death, Manju* — the boy’s mother and Anil’s wife — started living with the accused, Arun (who is also Anil's relative), along with her two children, in a rented house at Kumaramangalam near Thodupuzha in Kerala's Idukki district.
On March 28, 2019, Arun Anand brutally beat up and thrashed the seven-year-old boy, which left him with critical injuries, including a fracture in the skull, ruptured lungs and a head injury, along with internal bleeding. After a 10-day battle on a ventilator, the boy succumbed to his injuries and died on April 6. While Thodupuzha police is still investigating the death of the boy, the Crime Branch will investigate the death of the boy's father.
According to the Crime Branch Circle Inspector TA Yoonus, Crime Branch started the investigation after Anil’s father filed a complaint with the Chief Minister, demanding a probe over his son’s death. Anil’s father had filed a complaint after his grandson was murdered.
Anil's body was exhumed this month. "The Crime Branch team collected samples from the grave at his family residence in Neyyattinkara (Thiruvananthapuram district) on October 23. The samples were sent for chemical examination. We will conduct the further probe after we receive the result of the samples," said the CI.
According to sources, Anil and Manju’s younger child gave a statement to the police, stating that he saw his mother giving milk to his father on the day he died. It is suspected that Manju may have mixed poison in the milk on the direction of Arun. According to the post-mortem report, heart attack was believed to be the cause of the death of Anil.
After the seven-year-old boy's death, his four-year-old brother told the police that the accused had allegedly sexually assaulted him and the victim. The police then registered a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POSCO) case against Arun, who is the first accused in the case and continues to be in jail. Manju was also arrested and later got bail for suppressing facts of the assault. The four-year-old boy is under the protection of the grandmother.
(*Names changed as the sexual assault angle is still being probed)