Aneesh performed a puja and sacrificed a rooster after burying the four to escape arrest, police said.
Days after four of a family were found dead, their bodies stacked in a pit behind their home, the Kerala Police have revealed shocking details in the case. Krishnan, 52, who owned a rubber plantation, his wife Susheela, 50, their daughter Arsha, 21, and 19-year-old son Arjun went missing from Thodupuzha last month.
The police had been called in by neighbours who said they had not seen the family for four days. Neighbours and some relatives who had gone to the house were alarmed to see bloodstains on the floor and walls. The police found a hammer and a knife in the house. They had suspected witchcraft.
Now the police say that the main accused in the case, Aneesh, was trained in black magic. "Aneesh was worried that his powers were not working for the last few months. He feared that Krishnan, his teacher, would have taken it back. And for last six months, he was conspiring along with an accomplice Lijin to kill Krishnan and to get back his powers," Idukki District Police Chief KB Venugopal told NDTV.
While Aneesh is missing, Lijin has been arrested. He has confessed to the crime, police said.
"Aneesh and Lijin reached Krishnan's house the night of July 29. They took off the fuse of the house. Hearing the goats cry and chaos in the cattle shed, Krishnan came out of the house. He was attacked with an iron rod. His wife, who came to check on him, was also attacked. Soon their children were also killed. They took the bodies inside the house and left. The next evening, they returned around 11, and realised that Krishnan's son was alive. They stabbed him with a sharp weapon and killed him with a hammer. They then dug a pit and buried the four, one over the other. We suspect that the son might not have been dead when the family was buried," Mr Venugopal added.
The police have also found religious symbols in a dustbin and have recovered gold ornaments that were stolen from the house. According to Lijin's confession, Aneesh performed a puja and sacrificed a rooster after burying the four to escape arrest.