Elderly couple charred to death as son sets house on fire near Chennithala in Kerala

Police registered a case under various sections including murder and arson.
Police inspect the gutted house at Kottamuri, near Chennithala
Police inspect the gutted house at Kottamuri, near Chennithala(Photo | Express)
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ALAPPUZHA: The charred bodies of an elderly couple were found in the remains of a house in Kottamuri, near Chennithala, which was allegedly set ablaze by their son in the early hours of Saturday.

The deceased were identified as Raghavan, 96, and his wife Bharathi, 86. Mannar police arrested their son Vijayan.

According to officers, an autorickshaw driver first noticed the fire around 3.30 am. Locals immediately alerted authorities.

Fire and rescue service personnel extinguished the blaze and recovered the bodies. The house, with walls made of tin sheet walls and its roof interspersed with tarpaulin and asbestos sheets, was gutted in the blaze. According to reports, the couple and their third son, Vijayan, had differences over property. Vijayan, who used to live with his wife and children, moved out of their house six months ago following an altercation.

He then moved in with his parents again. He turned into a drunkard and quarrelled regularly with his parents over property. This may have been the motive for killing them, said officers.

“We suspect that he killed his parents before setting the house on fire,” officers said. The bodies were shifted to Alappuzha Medical College Hospital for postmortem.

“The autopsy report will help us ascertain the exact cause of death,” they added. Vijayan will be produced before a magistrate on Sunday.

Police registered a case under various sections including murder and arson.

As per the police statement, Vijayan was planning to kill himself along with his parents, but he panicked as the fire engulfed the house. He then ran away from the scene.

The parents denied his demand for property and had rejected his reasoning for the same.

This enraged Vijayan. This led him to the decision to kill parents and end his own life, it said.

Officers collected CCTV visuals from a fuel station where Vijayan had reportedly purchased the petrol used to set off the fire.

Raghavan,Bharathi
Raghavan,Bharathi

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