Karnataka bureaucrat’s son arrested for murder bid of aged couple in Kerala's Kasargod district

KASARGOD: The son of a top bureaucrat in Karnataka has been arrested for assaulting an aged couple, and vandalising their house in Kasargod, the police said. Nithin Mathai, 24, and his friend Jebin Chacko of Nileshwaram, have been arrested and remanded in custody, said the Vidyanagar police.

They have been charged with attempt to murder, trespassing into a house, assaulting a woman with an intent to outrage her modesty, and mouthing profanity.

According to a complaint filed by K Ayesha, 68, the two accused barged into her house wielding axe and iron rods and attacked her and her husband Moindeen Kunhi on Monday. They pulled her hair, and hit her head and abdomen with iron rods, and also hit Kunhi’s head and face, according to the First Information Report.

Vidyanagar sub-inspector Vinod Kumar K P said the police have the video evidence of the violence perpetrated by the duo.

“When I reached Ayesha’s house, I saw them with GI pipes and it took me around 30 minutes to approach them,” he said. According to the officer, Nithin Mathai, a young lawyer, was in a relationship with Ayesha’s niece, a law graduate in Bangalore. But Ayesha’s son Abdulla CM, who lives in Bangalore, complained to Nithin’s mother, a senior lawyer, that her son was stalking the young woman. Nithin took objection to that and wanted Abdulla to apologise to his mother. 

“When I refused, he turned up at my house at Cheroor (in Kasargod) and assaulted my parents,” said Abdulla. 

Meanwhile, the Mangalore police had sought custody of Nithin Mathai for allegedly assaulting a woman police officer in the city. “The warrant had been sent to the Kasargod district police chief,” said an officer.