KOCHI/PATHANAMTHITTA: Padmam, one of the two victims in the Kerala 'twin human sacrifice' case, first rented a room in the 10-room building near Fathima Matha Church at Elamkulam in Kochi in 2021. She and her husband Rangan stayed there for about four months and both left for Dharmapuri, their native place in Tamil Nadu.
However, Padmam returned to Kochi without her husband in February this year and rented a small room. She led a secluded life there and her relatives and neighbours were clueless about her mysterious disappearance on September 26.
The rooms of the house are rented out to migrant workers from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. “She did not talk much to any of us and stayed in touch with only one other resident who is also from Tamil Nadu,” said Ramana, an Andhra Pradesh native staying there. Ramana said that they began staying there only two months ago and were not acquainted with the deceased.
Rijo Joseph, the house owner, said, “Padmam was very helpful to other residents. She never defaulted on rent payment of Rs 3,000. If someone couldn’t afford to pay a month’s rent, she helped them.” When other residents created trouble, Padmam used to intervene and resolve it. Besides, she was keen to update me on the developments taking place inside the building, he added.
On September 27, Palaniyamma, the sister of Padmam who is staying at Kaloor, filed a complaint at the Kadavanthra police station, stating that her sister was missing. Three days later, police came to the house and searched Padmam’s room.
“The police directed the residents not to leave the house until further orders,” added Ramana. She had told her younger son Selvaraj that she would return to Dharmapuri and settle down with him soon.
“My mother told me that she would come to Dharmapuri in a month and settle down with us in our newly renovated house. Now, we are not even able to see her body. The police showed me some body parts and asked me whether I could identify them, but I could not even look at them. As a son, how can I bear this? Everything is blank in my head,” said 28-year-old Selvaraj.
“I have completed my MSc in Computer Science and my elder brother, Settu, completed MSc in Physics. Six months ago, I joined a leading IT company in Chennai as a software developer. My brother Settu was about to join a government polytechnic college as lecturer today (Tuesday). My mother and father were so happy and they told us that they would come and live with us permanently in our house. We hoped all our hardship and struggles had come to an end. But all our happiness came to an end today.” said Selvaraj.
“We built a house six years ago and recently completed the first floor. My parents were planning to conduct my wedding. She promised me that after my wedding, she would not go anywhere,” said Selvaraj.
“How can I go back to my house without my mother? We studied and secured jobs to protect her. But now we don’t have our mother,” he said.
