'Killed my wife, warned her many times'; Punalur native's chilling murder confession on Facebook Live

PUNALUR: Sending shivers in the locality of Punalur, a man who stabbed his wife to death in front of his son following a family dispute, confessed to the crime in a Facebook live. Shalini (39), DMK Women's Wing Kollam District Secretary, native of Koothanadi, Placheri, Valakkodu, Kollam, was killed in the incident. Her husband, Isaac Mathew (44), surrendered.

The incident took place at around 6:30 am on Monday. Shalini, who works as a nanny at an unaided school, and Isaac, a rubber tapping worker, used to fight regularly over petty issues. Shalini had recently shifted to her mother's house following disputes with her husband.

Shalini and Isaac, who had come home to get ready for work, argued on Monday morning. In the rage of the moment, Issac stabbed Shalini in the chest and the back of her neck with a steel knife. Her eldest son, Shebin, who had completed Plus Two, was also at home. Neighbours rushed to the spot, hearing the screams, and found Shalini lying in a pool of blood. She was immediately taken to the Punalur Taluk Hospital, but her life could not be saved.

Isaac, who escaped after the incident, went live on Facebook an hour later from a nearby rubber plantation. He then went to the Punalur police station and surrendered. Shalini had previously filed a complaint with the Punalur police over Issac harassing her. The police had then summoned both of them to the station and pacified the issues. Ebin, their youngest son, who is in seventh grade, was sleeping at the family home nearby and was unaware of the happenings.

A police team led by Kollam Rural SP T.K. Vishnu Pradeep and Punalur CI Rajesh reached the house and collected evidence. Shalini's body has been kept at the Punalur Taluk Hospital morgue after the postmortem at Paripally Medical College. During the evidence collection conducted with Isaac in the evening, the police recovered the knife used for stabbing from a nearby rubber plantation. Isaac was produced at the magistrate's residence and remanded.

‘’ I am here to announce some sad news. I killed my wife this morning. My eldest son is a cancer patient, and my wife cares least about his health. I have even warned her not to get engaged in politics, but she ignored me. I have asked her to move out of the house I built, but to no avail,” said Issac while appearing live on Facebook.