Kannur: The case of the four mysterious deaths in a family at Pinarayi has been solved with Vannathamkandy Soumya (28) admitting to the crime. The victims were Soumya's parents Kunjikannan and Kamala and her children Aiswarya and Keerthana.

While Keerthana died on September 9, 2012, the others were murdered on various days this year. Aiswarya died on January 21, Kamala on March 7 and Kunjikannan on April 13.

Soumya was arrested after she was questioned for over 11 hours at Thalassery rest house. She admitted to have killed her parents and one daughter by lacing food with rat poison. The poison was mixed with 'rasam' for Kunjikkannan, fish curry for Kamala and rice for Aiswarya. It is learned that Soumya claimed younger daughter Keerthana had died of natural causes. The murders were carried out to remove the hurdles to her extramarital affairs, Soumya told the police.

The murders were considered as natural deaths earlier.

Soumya was questioned after striking similarities were found between all the deaths. Poison was detected in the bodies of the parents. The police had recently exhumed the body of the child who died in January to conduct post-mortem, following a court order. There was no suspicion initially when the child had died and as a result, no post-mortem was carried out.

Such an incident is being reported from Kannur district for the first time. All the four family members had vomitting bouts which eventually led to their deaths. Some relatives had filed a complaint before the police pointing out the unusual similarities between the deaths. The probe was taken up by the Crime Branch DySP following a directive from the office of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Traces of Alumnium phosphide were detected in the bodies of the parents, strengthening the suspicion of murder.

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Soumya was questioned by Thalassery ASP Chaithra Theresa John and Crime Branch DySP Raghuraman. She initially did not co-operate with the probe. The police could not gather evidence from her as she was admitted to hospital for vomiting. Officers focussed their investigation on how aluminium phosphide, which is the main ingredient of rat poison, reached the bodies of the victims. Some people who had contacts with Soumya's house were also under the watch of the police.

Several doubts still remain

The four deaths at Pinarayi shocked the entire state. Soumya, who was under treatment, at Thalasseri Co-operative hospital was whisked away by police personnel in plain clothes in an autorickshaw. Though aluminium phosphide was found in the parents' bodies, it was not detected in Soumya. But questions have been raised regarding how she was admitted in the hospital with symptoms of ingesting the chemical.

Soumya had earlier refused to seek medical attention when she had started vomiting, but neighbours forcibly took her to the hospital.

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