Chendamangalam massacre; accused not mentally ill and confessed to murders, says police

PARAVUR: The accused Ritu Jayan (26) has confessed to the murder of the householder, his wife and their daughter in Chendamangalam by hitting them on the head with a metal rod. The preliminary conclusion is that the accused was not under the influence of drugs at the time of the murder. The accused was produced in Paravur Judicial First Class Magistrate Court and remanded.

Ritu is not mentally challenged. He has not sought treatment for mental illness in any hospital. He is cooperating with the interrogation. Munambam DYSP S Jayakrishnan said that the custody application will be filed today. Chendamangalam Perepadam Kattiparambil Venu (Kannan, 60), his wife Usha (52) and daughter Vinisha (32) were killed. Vinisha's husband, Jithin, who was seriously injured in the attack, is undergoing treatment.

Ritu entered the house and attacked Vinisha first. Then Venu and Usha were attacked. Ritu hit Jithin on his head after the other three attacks. The three victims suffered injuries on the face and head. There are six wounds on Venu's head, four on Vinisha's head and three on Usha's head. There are wounds up to eight centimetres long. The rites of the victims were performed at the Vypin Murikkumpadam Cemetery.

Accused in five other cases

Ritu Jayan is an accused in five other cases. The case of finding three kilograms of ganja during covid is in Thrissur court. Another is a case of stealing a bike from the Ernakulam General Hospital. There are two cases in Paravur court. There is also a case in Vadakkekara station for harassing a woman by following her on a bike. He had come home from Bengaluru a week ago to appear in the ganja case.

Attempted assault on the accused

There was an attempt to assault the accused by the locals when he was produced in Paravur Judicial First Class Magistrate Court around 5:30 in the evening. Jithin's friends and locals surrounded the accused when he was brought in three police jeeps and dropped near the court and when he was taken back. Police took away the accused safely during the commotion. The accused had covered his face with his banyan. The police secretly took the accused to the Paravur Govt Hospital at around 2:30 in the afternoon and conducted a medical examination.