Kerala twin suicide: Locals shocked as victim turns villain in plot twist

NEYYATTINKARA

: Residents of Malayalkada are a perplexed lot. Barely a day ago, they stood by a fellow resident, who lost his wife and daughter in a single day. Now, he is being painted as the villain based on the suicide note left behind by his wife and daughter.

"'We are unaware of the things that happened inside the house. One thing we knew was that their home faced the threat of being attached by the bank," said Santha, who resides right across the road from Chandran's residence. Santha's daughter and Vaishnavi were playmates.

Santha was surprised by Lekha's allegation in the suicide note that Chandran had done nothing to avoid the bank's action. "He actually knocked on many doors to avoid bank action and even had a fight with his maternal uncle Kashi," Santha said.

Kashi is arraigned as a co-accused in the abetment case based on Lekha's suicide note. According to Santha, Chandran had asked Kashi to find a lawyer to move court and save his home. He even handed over a sum of Rs 20,000 to Kashi in this regard. But, the lawyer abandoned them after accepting cash.

"After that Chandran approached my husband for help and they then met various officials, including the local MLA," Santha said. Chandran left his Gulf job and returned six months ago to take care of the issues regarding loan, she said.

Another neighbour Rajani said that there were quarrels within the family, which everyone thought was normal. "The mother and daughter, who mostly kept to themselves, stopped interacting with neighbours after getting the notice from the bank over six months ago," she said.

Meanwhile, there were residents who believed that Chandran could be the reason behind Lekha and Vaishnavi's death. They received Chandran with jeers when the police brought him to the residence at noon during the funerals. Lekha's elder sister Sindhu said that Lekha never shared any of her problems with her and she was shocked to learn about the harassment.

Her paternal uncle Sreekumar said Lekha did have some issues with her mother-in-law soon after she was married to Chandran. Their conflicts continued till her death.

"It is true that Krishnamma regularly used to conduct pujas at home. We were never aware of any kind of sorcery," said Sreekumar, adding that Krishnamma had been practising the ritual of 'Thulli Parayal' for decades.

The suicide note also touched upon the history of 'sorcery' practised by Chandran's family for three generations. According to residents, Chandran's great grandfather Govindan Achari was the one who started the tradition of 'sorcery'. He is even credited of building a Devi temple for a Nair family in the locality. His four daughters continued the tradition.