IDUKKI: A six-year-old boy was killed in sleep when he was hit with a hammer on his head by his aunt’s husband who broke into the house at Amakkandam in Idukki around 3am on Sunday, October 3, 2021.
Althaf, alias Abdhul Fathah Raihan, of Riyas Manzil was killed by Muhammed Shan, alias Sunil Gopi, a resident of Vandiperiyar. Shan also attacked Althaf’s mother Safiya, who is his sister-in-law, her mother Sainaba, 70, and the boy’s sister Ashni, 15. Safiya and Sainaba were admitted to a hospital in Kolenchery in a critical condition. Police nabbed Shan, who had absconded, from Muthuvankudy near Vandiperiyar in the night.
Police sources said Shan and his wife have been living separately. He had harboured a feeling that Safiya and Sainaba were behind their separation.
Police track down Shan via mobile tower location
Around 3am, Muhammed Shan broke into Safiya’s house through the back door when the family was sleeping. He attacked Althaf and Safiya with the hammer. Althaf died on the spot and Safiya sustained serious injuries. Later, he went to Sainaba’s house nearby and smashed her head too with the hammer.
Later, he dragged Ashni, who was sleeping with his grandmother, to Safiya’s house and forcibly kept her in the house for two hours and hit her. When he was dragging her outside, she escaped from his clutches and ran out and hid in the bushes. The next-door family came to know about the incident when Ashni came rushing into their house around 6am.
Vellathooval police reached the spot and launched a search for Shan. His phone was switched off during most of the day but the police tracked him down after identifying his mobile tower location when he switched it on for a brief while. After the postmortem examination, Althaf ’s body will be handed over to the relatives on Monday.