Nanthancode murders: Made mother watch new video game, Kanyakumari trip and more

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cadell Jensen Raja persuaded his mother to come upstairs on the pretext of showing her the new video game he developed. Dr. Jean Padma, Cadell’s mother, walked into the room and sat on the chair watching the game when something piercing struck her from behind. She turned back to see her son Cadell holding an axe. Jean died soon and her body was shifted to the toilet.

Cadell’s father Prof. Raja Thankam, was downstairs with his daughter having dinner. When enquired about Jean, Cadell told his father that she was busy watching a game he developed. Nobody suspected anything, which made things easy for the youngster to mete out the similar brutal treatment for his father and sister. Cadell summoned his sister to the room on the pretext of meeting his Australian friend through an online call.

When another relative Lalitha and the housemaid enquired about others, Cadell said that the others were on a trip to Kanyakumari. He patiently waited for the night to pass and then wanted to meet Lalitha. On the pretext that his mother was asking for Lalitha through a landline call, he summoned the elderly relative to his room and hacked her to death.

When the maid enquired about Lalitha, Cadell somehow convinced her that his parents returned from tour and went on another trip, this time taking Lalitha along. He asked the maid to prepare him food and keep it on the table. She was then asked to leave.

After washing the floor and chopping the bodies into small parts, Cadell went to a petrol pump near Kowdiar, purchased the fuel in the bottle and took it back home. He poured the petrol on the bodies and set them on fire.

Meanwhile, a fire broke out in the house. The windows in the bathroom were shattered. The neighbours then informed the fire department. The bodies were discovered while the fire was being extinguished.

When the fire broke out, Cadell ran to the road and took an autorickshaw from Nanthancoe to Thampanoor railway station. In the next few hours, he would be sitting on a train to Chennai.

He realized that the police were looking for him when he checked into a hotel room. With this, he left his bag of clothes at the hotel and returned to Thiruvananthapuram. He was caught by the police when he got off the train at Thampanoor. There were 31 burn marks on Cadell’s body.