THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police suspect that the macabre killings were a fallout of financial issues.
Afan attacked his uncle Latheef, Latheef’s wife Shahida and his grandmother Salma Beevi as they reportedly had looked down upon his family while they were reeling under financial constraints. Afan’s father is in Saudi Arabia, where he runs a shop. The business had been dull of late following the family's financial dire straits.
Sources said the family owed money to many and Afan was disturbed over the rising debt. The family was planning to sell off the house to settle the dues. Police said Afan, who was apparently in a delirious state, decided to murder his brother, mother and a girl, identified as Farzana, of Mukkunnoor near Venjaramoodu, as he felt that it would be unfair to leave them behind after he ended his life.
“He harboured intense hatred for the relatives, who had allegedly jeered at him and his family after they fell on hard times. It seems he decided to take revenge before killing himself and those close to him,” a source said.
The residents of Perumala, a sleepy village located three kilometres from Venjaramoodu town, were shell-shocked upon learning about the murders.
One of the residents, who was coincidentally at the police station at the time, said when Afan saw him, he came to him and told him with an eerie calmness that “I have just killed six people”.
Even the cops were in disbelief when he confessed. “They asked the autorickshaw driver whether the youth had any mental issues as they thought he was playing a prank. When the driver said he was sane, the cops got nervous and rang up their contacts at Perumala and asked them to check Afan’s background,” said a man, who accompanied the cops to the house.
The man said the body of Afsan, Afan’s brother, was found lying in a pool of blood with a wad of Rs 500 notes scattered around him. Since the rest of the rooms were also locked, the cops checked in through the window panes and found Shemi, Afan’s mother, also lying in a pool of blood. However, her eyelids were moving and the cops broke in and shifted her to hospital. Farzana’s corpse was found sitting on a chair on the first floor with her face mutilated beyond recognition.