The family of four, including two young children, who died by suicide at Piravom in Ernakulam, had jumped from the Piravom bridge into the Muvattupuzha River after having lunch at a nearby restaurant, according to the Piravom Police.
The body of six-year-old Anna, the last of the four victims to be recovered, was found by Fire and Rescue Services personnel on Sunday morning. “Anna’s body was recovered a few metres downstream from the bridge, close to the spot from where the family is believed to have jumped. At present, all evidence points to it being a case of suicide,” an official from the Piravom Police Station told Onmanorama.
Police said CCTV footage from the area showed the family leaving the nearby Aishwarya Hotel after lunch. “They were seen walking towards the bridge, after which they jumped into the river. However, no CCTV cameras near the bridge captured the actual incident,” the officer added.
The incident occurred on Friday. The deceased have been identified as Narayanan, his wife Bijimol, and their children—six-year-old Anna and their two-year-old son. The family were originally natives of Kothamangalam.
The tragedy came to light when a local fisherman spotted the body of the two-year-old boy floating in the river on Friday and alerted another resident, who informed the police. Bijimol’s body was recovered shortly afterwards from the same area, while Narayanan’s body was found on Saturday.
Anna’s body was recovered from the Excise Kadavu area on Sunday. After the inquest, it was shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, for postmortem examination. The bodies of the other three victims are also kept at the hospital mortuary.
Police said statements are being recorded from the relatives of both Narayanan and Bijimol, and the investigation is continuing. “Preliminary inquiries suggest there were longstanding issues between the couple, and the Kothamangalam Police had intervened in the matter earlier. The house where they had been living was a rented accommodation arranged with the police’s assistance. We also suspect the family was under financial stress due to debts, but the exact reason behind the suspected suicide is yet to be confirmed,” the officer said.
Police had earlier stated that Bijimol had been estranged from her family and had been living separately for some time. Piravom Police have registered a case under Section 194 (unnatural death) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) into the incident.
