IDUKKI: Following the murder of a 4-member family at Mundanmudi near Vannappuram in Idukki, the post mortem report on Thursday revealed they were brutally killed by more than two persons by injuring them with multiple objects like hammer, knife and granite stones.Krishnan, 54, of Kanattu house, Kambakakaanam near Vannappuram; his wife Susheela, 50, daughter Arsha, 21, and son Arjun, 17, were found buried inside a pit near the house on Wednesday.
Their bodies were unearthed from the pit by Kaliyar police on Wednesday afternoon after being informed by the local people who found blood stains inside the house, while they were conducting a search for the family who went missing four days ago. The post mortem was conducted at the Medical College Hospital at Kottayam. The mortal remains were brought back home by noon, in four separate ambulances.
As per the post mortem report, multiple injuries of a similar nature were spotted from four of the dead bodies. Hence, the unidentified murderers have made a similar attack on four of them. The police have come to the conclusion the murderers should be more than one persons, since a single killer cannot inflict multiple injuries on a body. Deep injuries were the reason for death and it was inflicted with a sharp knife, a lightweight country sword, a hammer or a granite stone.Besides, the bodies also suffered marks of thrashes (with hammer or stone) all over the body. Four bones in Susheela’s rib cage had also been found broken in the post mortem examination.
Police to secure CCTV footage
The Kaliyar police on Thursday started securing CCTV footage from shops located between Vannappuram and Kanjikkuzhy to take details of those who visited Krishnan’s house during the past four days. Some of the local people had informed the police Krishnan used to conduct witchcraft in his secluded house and some people used to visit him in luxury cars. The police are collecting CCTV footage from cameras kept in front of shops and banks. “An application has been filed at the office in Thiruvananthapuram to secure footage from bank,” cops said.
After the ‘11th hour’
As per the statement given by the college mates of Arsha, 21, she was online on WhatsApp till around 11 pm on Sunday. Hence, the police assume the murder might have happened after that. The police checked the footage of vehicles that passed through the route after 11 pm on Sunday. The police have also assumptions that the conflict between the customers who came to Krishnan’s house for witchcraft might have led to the killing.