 "Kerala double murder: How murderer on bail returned to kill his victim's husband, mother-in-law")
“He is the psycho of our village.”
Out on bail in a five-year-old murder case involving a woman, this man brutally killed her husband and mother-in-law in broad daylight.
The attack took place on Monday in Kerala’s Palakkad district. After a huge manhunt, the accused was arrested on Tuesday.
As news of his arrest spread, a large crowd gathered outside the Nenmara Police Station, demanding his release so they could take matters into their own hands. As tensions escalated, police resorted to pepper spray and a lathi charge to disperse the crowd.
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The double murders
Chenthamara, who was out on bail for a 2019 murder case, allegedly killed an old woman and her son Sudhakaran over a personal grudge at their home in Pothundi.
Lakshmi, 72, and Sudhakaran, 57, were reportedly hacked to death in broad daylight outside their residence. Their bodies were cremated later that day.
Chenthamara (54), the prime suspect in the #NenmaraDoubleMurderCase in #Kerala's #Nenmara, is a highly skilled criminal. He managed to evade capture for two days by closely monitoring police actions, said #Palakkad district police chief Ajith Kumar on Wednesday. After an initial… pic.twitter.com/wlVRJHUCd1
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) January 29, 2025
According to The South First, Sudhakaran was allegedly killed following a sudden provocation during an argument the previous day. Having lost both parents to brutal murders within five years, his daughters, Akhila and Athulya, remain inconsolable.
Notably, Lakshmi was attacked while trying to stop Chenthamara from assaulting Sudhakaran. While Sudhakaran died on the spot, his mother succumbed to her injuries on the way to hospital, police said.
Police stated that Chenthamara carried resentment towards Sudhakaran’s family, blaming them for his wife and children leaving him.
Chenthamara allegedly committed the crime while on bail, having previously been arrested for murdering Sudhakaran’s wife in 2019.
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Sudhakaran’s children and the Congress party have slammed the cops, alleging that the Nenmara police ignored alerts from locals and relatives about Chenthamara returning to the village in violation of his bail conditions.
Condemning the police’s alleged inaction, the Youth Congress held a protest march to the police station on Tuesday.
‘Villagers panicked at his sight’
According to a report by Onmanorama, villagers saw Chenthamara as a man whose cold face covered an unpredictable rage. He had a love marriage and initially lived in Nellichodu before relocating to a small colony in Pothundi with his wife, Vilasini.
A local resident told the publication, “He is the psycho of our village. He would tell us stuff about black magic and how he was acting as per directions of the evil spirit.”
Tall and bulky, Chenthamara typically wore a saffron dhoti and shirt. His fast speech and cryptic behaviour had created fear among the villagers.
An individual, Chenthamara, who has allegedly committed gruesome double murder in #Nenmara in #Kerala's #Palakkad, is yet to be located. He hacked a mother and son, who were his neighbours, to death. The accused, who has a history of violence, remains at large, and a massive… pic.twitter.com/wIvby6HCIM
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) January 28, 2025
“If someone wears a new dress and walks by his house, he would warn them not to do that. He believed that people conspired against him and was doing witchcraft against him,” the resident said.
Police described Chenthamara as a calculated and cold-blooded criminal. Palakkad Superintendent of Police (SP) Ajith Kumar told the media that the murders were premeditated, with weapons procured in advance, The South First reported.
After committing the crime, Chenthamara allegedly monitored police activity closely and even tried to mislead investigators by claiming he had consumed poison. However, medical tests confirmed that no poison was in his system.
The 2019 Sajitha murder case
Chenthamara is accused of killing Sajitha in 2019. Sajitha was Sudhakaran’s first wife.
According to police, he has confessed to the double murder, stating that he suspected Sudhakaran would attack him to avenge his wife’s death. Acting on this belief, he killed both Sudhakaran and his mother.
Several reports suggest that Chenthamara suspected that Sudhakaran’s family had used witchcraft to separate him from his wife, leading him to allegedly murder Sajitha in 2019. After her death, Sudhakaran remarried.
His second wife and daughters survived the attack as they were not at home during the incident. He also told police that he wanted to kill his estranged wife as well.
Investigators have revealed that Chenthamara killed Sajitha believing she had used black magic to drive his wife away. He admitted to plotting the murders of three more people - his wife, daughter, and son-in-law, The South First reported.
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Sudhakaran’s children demand death penalty for accused
The children of the 54-year-old victim have demanded the death penalty for the accused.
“Chenthamara killed our mother in 2019 and went to jail. Then he got out and murdered our father and grandmother. Now he is arrested again, but he will be jailed for a few years and then released, only to kill more people," Akhila and Athulya were quoted as saying by IANS.
“Why did he do this to our father? He could have just beaten him instead of taking his life. Look at how brutally he killed him, stabbing him multiple times. This shows what kind of person he is. He must be hanged, or he will continue to kill,” they added.
Nenmara panchayat member M Manjusha stated that Sudhakaran’s family felt unsafe after Chenthamara was granted bail.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Manjusha said, “Sudhakaran, a truck driver, was often away from home. Because of this, his youngest daughter, Akhila, moved to her mother’s house, while Lakshmi went to stay with another daughter—both living nearby.”
Following the double murder, Chenthamara went into hiding in a forested area, and it took police more than 36 hours to capture him.
As part of the investigation, police will take Chenthamara to the crime scene for evidence collection and to reconstruct the sequence of events.
With inputs from agencies
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