Family in debt, an angry 23-year-old: Kerala police uncover motive behind 5 murders

Police are looking into the motive behind Monday's string of killings that rocked Kerala. They say the suspect, 23-year-old Afan, killed his grandmother because she refused to give him her jewellery, killed his uncle and aunt for not supporting him during his financial crisis, and then killed the woman he was seeing and his 13-year-old brother because he believed they couldn't live without him.

Afan was arrested on Monday evening after walking into a police station in Thiruvananthapuram and claiming to have killed six persons across three villages in the district earlier that day. When police arrived at these sites, they discovered that five of the people he attacked had died, but Afan's mother, whom he thought he had killed, was still alive and gravely injured, Indian Express reported.

Afan was taken to a hospital after ingesting poison following the murder spree. Before he carried out the murdering spree, which lasted six hours, the investigators claimed he even grabbed some jewellery from his paternal grandmother after she was dead and used it to pay off some of his creditors.

According to the accused's statement, investigators now think that he decided to go on the killing rampage because of a financial crisis brought on by mounting debt. They also think that he had originally intended for the entire family to die by suicide, but then abandoned that idea.

“The family had been burdened by huge financial liabilities. We obtained evidence showing that the family owed a debt of Rs 65 lakh to 13 people. He had planned a family suicide but then decided to kill everyone when he thought that plan would not succeed,” Superintendent of Police (Thiruvananthapuram rural) K S Sudarsan said.

Police thought the financial crisis was the main cause of the killing spree, but they also thought that each murder was driven by a different motive. According to officers, he killed some people because he thought they couldn't survive without him, and he killed his relatives as was angry with them for not helping him with his financial problems.

“The debts kept piling up. It came to a stage where it became difficult for them (the family) to continue. After murdering his grandmother, Salma Beevi, Afan stole her gold chain and repaid Rs 40,000 to various persons using the money obtained from pledging the gold. This incident in between the crimes shows that the liabilities were a factor,” SP Sudarsan said.

The officer claims that Afan confined his mother in a room after strangling her on Monday morning, thinking she was dead, then went out and bought a hammer. His grandma lived alone in a nearby village, so he went there with the hammer.

“Afan used to demand gold ornaments from the paternal grandmother, but she refused to part with them. This was the provocation for killing her. After the murder, he stole one of her gold chains,” the SP said.

Latheef, Afan’s uncle, used to warn him against his lavish lifestyle, the police officer said. “Afan had also sought money from Latheef, but he did not get it. This had provoked the murder of Latheef and his wife Sajitha.”

The SP claimed that he came home in the evening after killing the couple in a different area. According to authorities, he returned home to discover his mother still alive and struck her once more, using the hammer this time.

He then killed the woman he was seeing by bludgeoning her and then killed his younger brother. At last, he ingested poison. According to the SP, the inquiry has not yet revealed any conspiracy behind the killings.

“Even after the killings, he did not show any regret. Our field reports did not show he was involved in any crimes in the past… His mobile phone will be examined to ascertain his online activities,” Sudarsan said.

Locals claim Afan led an extravagant lifestyle without any source of income, even though authorities have not yet been able to ascertain how the family incurred a debt of Rs 65 lakh.

“His father, Abdul Raheem, was in debt in Saudi Arabia and he did not send any money back home after the pandemic days. His family, with no source of income, survived by taking debts over the years. Afan, who attended a degree course, did not have a job. But the financial constraints never reflected in their life,” said Shaji, a neighbour.

After social workers intervened, Raheem, who had been facing a travel ban in Saudi Arabia for the past seven years, was able to arrive in Kerala on Friday.