Rage of an 'angel': Did money woes alone drive a 23-year-old to bludgeon five people to death?
It was a bloody Monday in Thiruvananthapuram that shook Kerala and the rest of India.
Extreme love and extreme hatred had combined to fuel a murderous spree that claimed five lives in the most brutal manner. The perpetrator was just 23 years old and looked 'angelic' in the first photos that were shared of him.
Later, neighbours would vouch for Afan's goodness.
"He always carried an air of poise wherever he went. He was protective of his family, especially his younger brother Afsan. He would take his mother to the bank and for shopping and we've never heard of him misbehaving with either his mother or other family members," said Suhra Salim, a block panchayat member, who thought she knew Afan well enough.
What then prompted this 23-year-old from Perumala near Venjaramoodu town in the Kerala capital to bludgeon four members of his family and his girlfriend to death? And with such icy planning, 'poise' and calculation that even the cops initially found it difficult to believe him when he stepped in to give his confession.
The discovery of the bloody remains of Afan's younger brother Afsan (14), girlfriend Farsana (22) , grandmother Salma Beevi (92), uncle Latheef (62) and aunt Sajitha Beevi (55) -- one after another -- soon made everybody realise that they had been pulled headlong into one nightmarish tale.
There should have been a sixth victim. Afan had attacked his mother Shemi first and left her for dead. She is recuperating in a private hospital, still unaware her son had killed five others, including her other son.
The motive
What prompted Afan to go on this bloody rampage is still under investigation.
The prime motive behind the gruesome murders is believed to be the financial woes the family had been reeling under. Some mention a debt as large as Rs 75 lakh. So heavy was the burden that Afan is believed to have had to beg for help to fund his younger brother's education.
"His father Rahim has been embroiled in a legal issue in Saudi Arabia and has not been able to renew his documents. So, he is unable to work and earn money. He earlier ran an automobile spare parts business, which ran into losses. He owes people money and there is a police case for that. Because of that he has not been able to exit the kingdom for the past seven years," said a senior police officer.
He said Afan has been having a tough time arranging funds.
"He had borrowed money from many relatives, who began mocking him. They scolded him regularly for borrowing money. He had a feeling that they did not care about him and his family and were instead interested in blaming him," the officer said.
This feeling of being made a fall guy had made them all his enemies.
"The murders were apparently carried out with two mindsets. Towards his grandmother, uncle and aunt - he had an intense hatred. While, for the other victims, including his mother, he had immense love. He had this weird feeling that after killing the relatives out of vengeance, he will have to end his life and hence he should not leave his mother, brother and lover behind.
"He loved his mom, a cancer patient, the most and told the interrogators that he could not even bear seeing her cry," the officer added.
The police are pinning their hopes on his mother Shemi being able to to give them more details as Afan has been giving contradictory statements.
A local politician, who had visited Shemi at the hospital, said she was barely able to talk despite severe injuries on her head and face.
"She did not know about the deaths. She was asking about Afsan and conveyed her wish to see him. She did not talk about Afan nor mention about the incident," the politician said.
Drug-induced frenzy?
But was there more to it than meets the eye?
There were initial reports, quoting police sources, that traces of drugs were detected during the preliminary blood sample of Afan.
South Zone IG S Syam Sundar, who had visited the crime spot on Tuesday, told media that it's not yet known whether the youth was under intoxication.
Highly-placed sources said the police though have not ruled out the possibility of Afan using synthetic drugs before committing the heinous crime.
"Since he has taken rat poison to commit suicide, we are not being able to identify whether he had administered drugs before committing the offences. We are awaiting a chemical analysis report of his sample to ascertain whether he had indeed popped pills before going on a murder spree," said a source.
Murder most foul
Police recounted how the horror began.
They said that Afan first went after his mom, throttling her using a shawl and then tossing her against the wall and the floor. Then, thinking that she was dead, he went to his grandmother staying at Pangode, some 25km from Perumala where he stayed. Once there, he bludgeoned the 92-year-old with a hammer that he had purchased for the purpose.
His paternal uncle Lateef and his wife Sajitha were the next victims.
After bludgeoning them, he returned to Perumala in the evening.
A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said Afsan, brother of Afan, told them that the gate to his house was locked from outside. He had just returned from school and told the woman of the neighbouring house to call his mother on her phone. She did and the call was picked up by Afan, who told her that he was on his way back from Pangode.
Later, Afan summoned an auto driver Sreejith and told him to take his brother to a Manthi shop at Venjaramoodu.
Afan followed Sreejith on a bike and when Afsan was waiting for a kuzhi manthi, he went and picked up Farzana from Venjaramoodu town and brought her home too.
The neighbour said the last sighting he had of Afsan was of the 14-year-old walking home through their compound carrying the kuzhi manthi. Within minutes, police said, the two had been done away with.
Confession time
Sreejith, the auto driver, was once again called over by Afan, who said he wanted to be dropped at a bike workshop in Venjaramoodu. But when Sreejith slowed down near the workshop, Afan told him that he had a change of plans and wanted to get a haircut first at a salon, which turned out to be close to the police station.
When the auto got there, Afan paid the fare, got down, but instead of walking into the salon, strolled into the station.
Local sources said two youths from Perumala, who had gone to the station for some work, met Afan and asked him why he had come there.
"Twirling a key in his fingertips, he told them he had murdered a few people before nonchalantly walking up to the cops. Nobody took him seriously then," said a local resident.
Once in, he repeated these claims to the cops, who also did not take him seriously initially. They rang up Sreejith after getting to know that Afan had travelled in his auto and inquired about the latter's mental health while assuming that the 23-year-old was bluffing.
Sreejith insisting that Afan was mentally sound, however, set alarm bells ringing.
The cops heard Afan out again before setting off for his house. Meanwhile, Afan consumed rat poison that he had brought with him.
Heading to Afan's house
Vishnu Sreekandan Nair, a local DYFI leader who was passing by, said he happened to hear women chattering upon seeing police vehicles entering the gully leading to Afan's house.
He got down to see what was happening. "People were thinking that the cops were there to apprehend the tipplers, who often assemble in the vacant land away from the main road," he said.
"But the cops told everyone about Afan’s claims and entered the compound of his house," Vishnu remembered.
The cops, meanwhile, had sought the assistance of the local residents to break into the house as it had been locked from outside.
Nidhin, a young man from the neighbourhood, was one of the first to enter the house.
He said the cops smelt LPG and sensed that Afan had deliberately kept the gas stove on in to trigger a blast in case someone tried to enter the house by force.
"The cops somehow opened the door and we found Ahsan's body in a pool of blood in the hall. The rear side of his head was battered. The room next to the hall was locked from outside. We knew his mom was there. When we went outside and peeped in through the window, we found her lying in blood, but her eyebrows were moving slightly. The door was soon broken open and she was taken away to hospital. We still did not know that there was another body in the house. When we went to the first floor, we found Farzana's body in a chair with her face mutilated," Nidhin recollected.
Other bodies are discovered
The police soon set off to SN Puram, some 10 kms away from Perumala, in search of Latheef’s house. A relative of Afan, who had accompanied the cops to Latheef's place, said the front door of the house was found open when they reached there.
"As we pushed it, we saw Latheef's body leaning on the sofa with dried blood all around. His wife was found lying in the kitchen. It was as if she had gone to prepare tea for Afan when he went there. It was a blood-curdling scene," he remembered.
The autopsy of Latheef, a retired CRPF man, was to reveal more than 20 hammer blows.
They would also go on to find Afan's grandmother Salma Beevi's body at her house in Pangode, 25 kms away from Perumala.
What experts say
The mass murders have left psychologists and criminology experts wondering about the reasons that led to the brutality.
The murders could be the result of a combination of factors, felt criminologist James Vadakkumcheri.
"There are push and pull factors that can form a criminal background. Push factors are the immediate, individual reactions a person has when placed in certain situations, instant responses that arise from within. Pull factors stem from societal influences- the environment one grows up in, the exposure received from society and the values absorbed over time. When these two factors interact negatively over an extended period, they can cultivate a criminal ego.
"In this case, the excessive consumption of violence through social media may have influenced his choice of method. Also, no one even heard the sound of him striking his victims. It shows that he knew exactly how to wield the weapon. The push and pull factors, without a doubt, contributed to the formation of a strong criminal ego in Afan’s case. And when faced with a distressing situation, he acted on it, that’s my understanding," said Vadakkumcheri.
Psychologist Arun B Nair too felt that "impulsivity and impatience driven by the digital revolution are major factors" in shaping responses now.
"People today struggle to accept a 'no' to their desires, as the gap between wanting something and achieving it has vanished in the digital age, where everything is instant. The excessive use of digital devices and constant exposure to violent content have diminished real-world social connections. This has led to increased social disconnection among the youth," said Arun Nair.
Meanwhile, ex-top cop A Hemachandran is of the view that Afan's personality traits and social influences might have had a part to play.
"The fact that he continued for several hours suggests it was not an act of instant provocation. His personality traits and social influences likely played a role. People react violently for various reasons. No one lives in a vacuum. He is, after all, a product of his society. The glorification of violence in the media, frequent exposure to it, combined with the personal pressures of his liabilities, were contributing factors. He is alleged to have previously attempted suicide and it is reported that family even planned mass suicide. So, an active death instinct was there. His violent disposition was formed by these influences, which ultimately led to the act. Reports also suggest that he showed signs of slight deviance too," said Hemachandran, a retired DGP.
'The horror of his actions will haunt us forever'
At Afan's girlfriend Farzana's house, located some seven kilometres from Perumala, the family is yet to come to terms with her loss.
S Sudheer, a panchayat member from the Valiyakattackal ward and who resides near Farzana's house, said she wanted to make it big in life.
Belonging to a lower middle-class family, with her father working in an aluminium fabrication shop, she tutored students at their homes to supplement the family's income.
"She was good at studies. She did not mingle much with people and always kept to herself. She was a quiet girl. Even in our distant dreams, we didn't think such a calamity would befall her," Sudheer said.
Her mother and brother had known about her relationship with Afan and had no aversion to him marrying her.
On the fateful day, one of the family members said she had gone out saying she had a home tuition. "What we saw next was news reports that she was no more, "the relative said.
In Perumala, people are still unable to come to grips with the developments.
Many say Afan was never known to have used drugs, though he occasionally enjoyed drinks with friends. Some others say the financial liabilities were not that huge and did not warrant such an act.
Whatever it may be, all of them unanimously agree that such a crime, such a dastardly act, should not have taken place.
"The horror of his actions will haunt him and us forever. Had this Monday been different, we would have been much better off," said an old woman, who knew Afan and his family well enough.
(With inputs from Varsha Somaraj.)