
PALAKKAD: A chilling act of purported vengeance unfolded at Boyan Colony, Thiruthampadam, near Pothundi in Palakkad district on Monday as a man accused of killing a woman in 2019 hacked to death her husband and mother-in-law. The accused, Chenthamara, their neighbour, was out on bail. The deceased are Lakshmi, 68, and Sudhakaran, 50.
According to the police, the incident happened around 10am. Chenthamara fatally attacked Sudhakaran during an argument. When Lakshmi tried to intervene, she too was attacked. She died en route to the Alathur government hospital. Both victims suffered multiple, deep wounds.
Chenthamara fled the scene and remains at large, till the time of going to press. A special task force comprising seven officers has been formed to apprehend Chenthamara.
Sudhakaran, who worked as a driver in Tamil Nadu, had returned home a few days ago to resolve pension-related paperwork.
Repeated warnings ignored. Local residents said that Chenthamara had been creating unrest in the area after being released on bail two months ago. Sudhakaran’s family and other neighbours had lodged multiple complaints with the Nemmara police, alleging harassment and death threats from Chenthamara. Sudhakaran and his daughter Akhila personally sought police intervention, but their pleas went unheeded.
“Chenthamara would walk the streets armed with a knife, openly threatening to kill people. Despite our written petition, signed by several residents, the police failed to take effective action,” a local representative told reporters.
Akhila expressed her grief and anger at police’s negligence. “We complained on December 29 but nothing was done. Now I’ve lost both my parents. What’s left for me? Let him kill me too,” she said through tears.
As news of the murders spread, enraged locals gathered at the scene and confronted the police, accusing them of failing to prevent the tragedy.
They initially blocked the authorities from transporting the bodies for postmortem, demanding accountability for police’s inaction.
A senior officer from the Alathur DySP’s office said the police had summoned Chenthamara multiple times and had objected to his bail in the 2019 case relating to the
murder of Sudhakaran’s wife, Sajitha 36.
“We even approached the court twice to revoke his bail, but our objections were overruled. We will investigate whether any lapses occurred at our end,” the officer said.