Youth kills three of girl’s family in Gudalur

The murder of three members of a family on Saturday night near Gudalur has shocked The Nilgiris.

Police sources said J. Lenin, 27, of Magilambadi in Wayanad, working in a hotel at Kochi, was in love with J. Joshna, 22, of New Hope. They had known each other while studying in Kerala.

He wanted to marry her, but her parents turned down the proposal and arranged for her marriage with another youth.

On Saturday night, when Joshna and her parents, T. Joy, 50, and Girija, 45, were in the prayer room in their house, along with Joy’s mother Annamma, 67, Lenin entered through the backdoor and attacked Joshna with an iron rod.

When the others tried to shield her, Lenin turned on them. While Girija and Annamma died on the spot, Joy died while being taken to the Government Hospital at Gudalur.

Lenin, who tried to get away with three gold chains and Rs. 70,000 stolen from the house, was arrested. Joshna, who suffered injuries in the head and the hand, was brought to the Government Headquarters Hospital here.

After a judicial magistrate recorded her statement, she was taken back to Gudalur to attend the funeral of her parents and grandmother.

Collector P. Sankar and Superintendent of Police T. Senthil Kumar visited the mortuary at the Government Hospital at Gudalur, where the bodies were kept.