Cadell Jeansen Raja, suspect in Nanthancode killings. Rinku Raj Mattancheriyil Thiruvananthapuram: Cadell Jeanson Raja, 30, the sole suspect in the Nanthancode multiple-murder case, has continued to confuse the probe team by constantly changing his statements and giving different reasons for the gruesome killings.
His latest revelation is that extreme anger towards his family members for being ill-treated by them was the real motive behind the murders.
Cadell, whose arrest was recorded on Wednesday, was produced before a court which sent him to police custody till April 20.
The case is being investigated by a team led by Assistant Commissioner, Cantonment, K.E. Baiju.
The other day, he had told his interrogators that the family members were killed during an attempt in astral projection to detach their bodies from souls.
Also read: What is astral projection?
Following this, the police roped in expert psychiatrists to assist them in the interrogation. However, he took a U-turn later and told the investigators that he returned from Chennai to Thiruvananthpuram to learn from the police the reason for him to commit the crime!
The police prepared a remand report based on his revelations of the alleged ill-treatment by the other family members.
'Disheartened' Cadell plotted his family's murder
However, the police are still clueless about the exact motive behind the killings of his parents, sister and aunt despite trying out different grilling methods. The accused had plans to commit suicide after annihilating the family, the police said.
On the first day of interrogation, Cadell told the probe team that all the murders had taken place on a single day, but the cops were certain that he was lying.
“We hope that forensic examination of the electronic gadgets including the computer recovered from his room would lead us to the exact motive behind the murders,” an officer said.
The bodies of retired professor Rajthankam, 60, his wife and retired doctor C. Jean Padma, 58, their daughter Carolyn, 25, and relative Lalitha, 70, were found mutilated and charred in their multi-storey house at Nanthencode in the early hours of Sunday.
He was treated shabbily by the parents as he was the only non-performer and underachiever in the well-off family, Cadell reportedly told his interrogators.
His mother was the first victim, followed by the sister and the father. The accused invited all of them to his room and killed them one by one with an ax that he bought online. He had purchased liters of petrol in advance to burn the bodies.
He killed Lalitha, a relative who stayed on the ground floor of the house, in the same manner on Friday night after she sensed something was amiss, according to the remand report.
The police will take him to the lodge in Chennai where he stayed while absconding, the fuel station in Kowdiar from where he purchased petrol, and the crime scene in Nanthencode, in the coming days, sources said.
As per the remand report, the murders were premeditated. He reportedly admitted that he was planning the crime for several months.
The stories of astral projection and esotericism that the accused spun during the initial rounds of interrogation were to mislead the police and hide the real motive behind the killings. It is learned that he has been practicing astral projection for the last 15 years.
'Cadell hated his father'
Cadell, who could only complete Plus Two, had been subjected to constant contempt by the other members of the well-educated family. He went abroad with huge hopes, but even failed to complete the course he pursued there. He hated his father for cruelly neglecting him, Cadell told the police.
The accused, who led a secluded life with no friends or social life, got easily influenced by esotericism and occultism.
Initially, he had planned to kill only his father, but later decided to murder the others too. He had been waiting for the past three months to execute the plan, the police added.
