In an incident that brings a strong sense of déjà vu, a 66-year-old man in Kerala murdered his own son, reportedly for causing trouble to the family under the influence of drugs. This is the second such case in a matter of months.
However in this case, the distraught father went one step further. After killing his son on Tuesday night, he decided to take his own life as well, on Wednesday morning.
The incident happened in Vadakkerkara in Kochi, and the two victims have been identified as 26-year-old Manoj and his father, 66-year-old Pavanan. Manoj’s throat had been slit, and Pavanan was found hanging from the ceiling of the kitchen.
The police is yet assert the exact timings of the deaths. Pavanan has left a suicide note saying that he killed his son. “The letter says that he was forced to do it as there was no other option left. ‘I did the crime myself,’ the letter says,” Vadakkekara police told TNM.
“From the information we have, Manoj was a drug addict and he used to cause trouble for his family. A scientific team has been examining the crime spot. The bodies have been kept at the house only. We are waiting for the team to finish their examination. We assume that the murder happened on Tuesday night. Pavanan committed suicide after 7.30 am as there are people who have seen him before that,” the police added.
The family had moved from Cherayi to Vadakkekara a few months ago. Pavanan’s elder son and his wife were away at a relative’s house at the time of the deaths.
“No one else was at the house when the crime occurred. Pavanan’s brother came to the house after the phone calls remained unanswered. Pavanan is a retried government employee. He was an army personnel before joining the government service,” the police said.
In a similar incident, the family of a 25-year-old man had murdered him in capital Thiruvananthapuram, for reportedly causing trouble to the family under the influence of drugs. Santosh’s parents confessed to murdering him on June 1 by throwing acid on his face and attacking him with an iron rod. 53-year-old Sreedharan, 47-year-old Saraswathy, and their younger son Sajin (21) were arrested for the crime by the Parassala police.