Assailant’s target was his cousin in Jodhpur killings

Jodhpur: The target of Pappuram, arrested for brutally killing four members of his uncle’s family, at a village near Osian on Wednesday, was his cousin Harish, police said on Friday.According to police, Pappuram had entered his uncle’s house assuming Harish was at home on the fateful morning. When he made the first hit with the axe and learnt that it was not Harish but his uncle, Pappuram, out of anger, decided to kill all, including his aunt, who was sleeping on another cot, and then the couple’s daughter-in-law and the six-month-old granddaughter.DCP (Jodhpur Rural) Dharmendra Singh Yadav said that Pappuram had been holding a grudge against Harish since the day when his brother Tejaram was found dead under mysterious conditions in Surat in November 2022.“He and his family were of the view that Harish was behind his death. Relatives of Harish’s in-laws lived in Surat, so he would go there once every year. Hence they had taken him to Surat on his brother’s death," said Yadav.