Three of a family hacked to death in Kerala's Chendamangalam

Children manage to escape; 28-year-old neighbour, a habitual offender, arrested; he committed the crime following a grudge over police complaint, say cops
The house at Chendamangalam where the murder took place
The house at Chendamangalam where the murder took place
Updated on
3 min read

KOCHI: A dispute between neighbours over a police complaint ended in the gruesome murder of three members of a family, including two women, at Chendamangalam in North Paravoor on Thursday. One person has been arrested.

The deceased are Venu, 65, his wife Usha, 62, and their daughter Vinisha, 32 of Kizhakkumpuram ward in Chendamangalam panchayat. Vinisha’s husband Jithin (Kannan), suffered critical injuries and is undergoing treatment at Aster Medcity.

Two children of Jithin and Vinisha who were present in the house at the time, managed to escape unharmed. Rithu Jayan, 28, their neighbour, has been arrested. The police said he has multiple criminal cases registered against him in the Vadakkekara and North Paravoor police stations.

Kizhakkumpuram residents said the crime was a result of long-standing conflicts between the neighbours, primarily due to Rithu’s alleged drug use. An officer said around three months ago, Venu’s family and other neighbours had filed a police complaint against Rithu.

“The two families have been in dispute for a long time. Venu’s family had filed a police complaint a few months ago over disturbances caused to them by Rithu’s drug use. Though the police initially responded, the accused person’s family convinced them that he was not causing further trouble,” said Vishal, a resident. He claimed Rithu, however, had earlier threatened to kill the entire family by setting them on fire.

Venu , Usha & Vinisha
Venu , Usha & Vinisha

Sources in the police said Rithu committed the murder around 6pm. He trespassed into Venu’s house armed with a hatchet and an iron pipe. There, he entered into an argument with Jithin and attacked him. Vinisha, Venu and Usha tried to intervene, but were hacked to death by the accused, said the source. Meanwhile, Vishal said the children ran away from the attacker and managed to escape. After the crime, Rithu fled too.

Helmet-less outing led to arrest

The crime came to light when police officials spotted Rithu riding a two-wheeler without a helmet. He was intercepted and taken to the police station where he informed them about the murder. A police team then rushed to the deceased persons’ house.

“The accused claimed to have been agitated after learning that his neighbour made objectionable comments against his mother and sister. He said the neighbour made similar comments on Thursday too, which provoked him into attacking them. His claims have to be verified, though,” a police officer said.

The officer said after Venu’s family and other neighbours approached the police with a complaint against Rithu around three months ago, he had gone to Bengaluru and returned recently.

“He was a mechanic. One of the weapons he used was an iron pipe used in motorcycles, while the other was a hatchet. He hit the victims on the head with the iron pipe before hacking them to death,” said the officers.

While Rithu uses drugs, he was not under its influence while committing the murders, said the police.

Meanwhile, Kizhakkumpuram ward member Divya Unnikrishnan said Rithu was involved in criminal activities. “He was a trouble maker and involved in similar clashes before. Police knew about his actions and regularly contacted me to ask about him,” she said.

One critical

The public relations officer with Aster Medcity said the condition of Jithin, husband of deceased Vinisha, was critical. “He suffered severe head injuries and is in a critical condition. The doctors are doing their best, and a CT scan has been planned to assess his injuries.”

Charges

Rithu has been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 332(a) for house trespassing, 103(1) for murder, 118(1) voluntarily causing hurt using weapon and 109 for attempted murder

Accused Involved in multiple cases: cop

Ernakulam Rural Police Chief Vaibhav Saxena said Rithu was involved in drugs case in Thrissur, a motorcycle theft case in Kochi city and other cases in Ernakulam Rural police limit. “Our preliminary probe reveals he was not intoxicated when he committed the murders. However, we will conduct tests to determine whether he used drugs. It is learnt he had undergone de-addiction treatment. A few months ago, he had damaged the gate of a neighbour’s house. After this, he went to Bengaluru and returned recently,” he said. Vaibhav said Rithu was included in a rowdy list of Vadakkekara police station.

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