Grandma, Kid Hacked to Death Alamcode near Attingal Murders were 'surprise gifts' for lover

In a tragic incident, a 60-year-old woman and her grand-daughter were hacked to death at their residence at Alamcode near Attingal on Wednesday. The deceased were Omana, 60, of Thushara House, Alamcode, and three-and-a-half-year-old Swasthika, daughter of Omana’s son Lijeesh. The Attingal Police has taken the accused into custody who was identified as Nino Mathew, 40, hailing from Mamam. Attingal CI M Anil Kumar said Nino, a married man, reportedly had an extra-marital affair with Swathi, his co-worker in a Technopark company and Lijeesh’s wife. Last week, Lijeesh grew suspicious over the affair after he found some SMSes sent by Nino to Swathi. Lijeesh, a KSEB staffer, had a quarrel with his wife following the incident, the police said.

''I have a surprise for you. Please wait till evening,'' reads a message sent by Nino Mathew to his lover Anu Santhi, after calling her before setting out to commit the murders. His target was actually Lijeesh, her husband. However, he killed Omana and Swastika before Lijeesh came home as he wanted to eliminate eyewitnesses, Nino told the police. Circle inspector M Anil Kumar, who recorded Nino's arrest, said according to statements given by Nino and Anu, who is also in police custody, she was aware that Nino would kill her husband but she never expected him to kill her daughter too. It was about a week ago that Lijeesh found out about their illicit relationship from an SMS Nino sent to Anu. Lijeesh told Anu that she could move out with Nino but he would not let their daughter go with her. Anu informed this to Nino and told him that she was willing to go with him, provided Lijeesh was moved out of her life. ''The accused arrived at Lijeesh's house, 'Thusharam', fully prepared, with the necessary weapons and clothes to change after committing the crime,'' Anil Kumar said.

When he found that Lijeesh was out of home, he called him on his mobile phone. Lijeesh told him that he was at Chathanpara, where his new house was being built, and he would be back in 30 minutes. In the meantime, he went to the kitchen and hit Omana on the back of her head with a golf club, which was cut short to fit inside his bag. He then hacked her twice with a machete . He also hacked the little girl twice on her chest and waited for about 15 minutes for Lijeesh to reach home.

In a bid to portray it as a robbery-murder case, Nino stole the gold chain of Omana and the waist chain of Swastika, which the police recovered from his house at Kulathoor later. The arrest of Anu was recorded late in the night. The circle inspector said the mobile phone of Nino contained video clips of intimate moments between him and Anu. Neighbours shocked: The deceased Omana's next-door neighbours, Jayan and his family, were at their workplaces when the crime took place. Omana's sister-in-law Thankamany and family, who lived a house away, had gone to Kilimanoor to invite close ones to her elder daughter's wedding in June.

''If we were around, we could have intervened and saved them when we heard the screams,'' said Thankamany, who sat shattered on the footsteps of her house, flanked by her two daughters. For Jayan, who still thought the crime was the handy work of a robber, it was something hard to believe. ''My daughter works at Kollam Corporation Office and wife at Travancore Devaswom Board's office at Fort in the city. Both of them return very late in the evening, mostly after dark. Till now, they have not complained about any anti-social activity. We felt very safe here,'' he said.