Husband, Mother Kill 2 Children, Then Die By Suicide Over Custody Battle

As the deadline to return his children to his estranged wife approached, a man and his mother allegedly killed the two children at their home in Kerala. According to the police, the mother and son subsequently died by suicide.

The incident occurred in Ramanthali, Payyannur, a village located in the Kannur district. Police found Usha KT (56), her son Kaladharan KT (36), and his children Hima (6) and Kannan (2) dead at their home on Monday night.

Investigators suspect that the man and his mother mixed pesticides into milk given to the children. A bottle containing milk and pesticide was recovered from the room.

A police officer said the postmortem examinations of the bodies were completed and revealed that the two children were administered poison. 

"Subsequently, Kaladharan and Usha also consumed poison and later died by hanging," the officer said.

Kaladharan and his wife, Nayanthara, were living apart. After Nayanthara approached the police to regain custody of her children, a court directed Kaladharan to hand them over. Police had contacted him the previous night to facilitate the transfer.

An alleged suicide note was found at the scene. The police have registered a case of unnatural death and are continuing their investigation.

The bodies were handed over to relatives after postmortem on Tuesday, police said.