Thodupuzha: Two suspects have been nabbed Friday in connection with the gruesome murder of a four-member Thodupuzha family.

The investigating team has reportedly compiled a list of 15 suspects in the murder that came to light on Wednesday.

The two suspects in custody were the assistants of the slain man, Krishnan. One of them is a native of Nedumkandam.

Idukki district police chief K B Venugopal ruled out burglary as a motive behind the crime.

Earlier Thursday, sources had revealed that the investigation into the mass murder will rely on the autopsy report to a great level.

The postmortem examination had revealed that all four were attacked brutally and suffered strong blows, deep cuts and injury marks on their bodies.

Each of the four victims of the Kanattu household in Kambakakkanam here had 10 to 20 grave injury marks on their body, going by a report based on their autopsy.

The police said more than one person was involved in the murder of K V Krishnan, 54, his wife Susheela, 50, daughter Arsha, 21 and son Arjun, 17, even as the reason for the crime is yet to be ascertained.

All four members of a family were found piled on top of another in a dung pit on Wednesday next to their home in Thodupuzha in the hilly Idukki district.

Around 30 sovereigns of gold have been reported missing from the home.

With more clues emerging, the police believe that the probe will have to cover areas beyond Kerala. Arsha was a B Ed student in a Thodupuzha college, while Susheela was a homemaker.

Pointing out that the crime was clearly planned and carried out by more than three people, the police say the perpetrators used three weapons for the murder. One a heavy hammer or similar tool, second was a knife that was sharp-edged on one side and the third was a machete-like device.

Krishnan's skull was found smashed into pieces, while the intestines of Arjun, a class-12 student, were found to have come out of his body.

The post-mortem was carried out by a team led by the Dr Ranju Raveendran , head of the department of forensics, Kottayam Medical College and Dr Sathosh Joy, associate professor.

Murder unnoticed for days

The crime came to public knowledge on Wednesday when the four bodies were pulled out from beneath soil and stones used to quickly fill a four-foot-deep cow-dung pit in the backyard of their house near Vannapuram. The murder, it was later learned, likely took place on Sunday night.

Given that the cow-dung pit into which the bodies were dumped was only four-feet deep and later covered hastily with soil and stones, it is obvious that the criminals made no effort to ensure difficulty in tracing the victims.

The perpetrators would have sensed that no one in the locality would immediately look into the disappearance of Krishnan and his family as he maintained no contact with their neighbours.

That would also mean the criminals would have estimated at least two days' time to escape to flee. This has prompted the forces to expand their search outside the state.

Phone calls, CCTVs under scanner

The initial phase of the police probe focused on the phone calls received and made by people in the vicinity of the crime, besides the vehicles that passed by the area defined by sprawling rubber estates. Cops are still monitoring the CCTV footage available from around the area. The investigation is being carried out by 25-member team under Thodupuzha DySP K P Jose.

Police have already seized the mobile phones of Krishnan, his wife and the daughter to learn the call details.

No less than 40 people, including neighbours and relatives of the deceased family, have been questioned. More information will be gathered from the siblings of Krishnan, according to Idukki district police officer K.B. Venugopal.

The bodies of all four deceased were buried in a single pit behind the house on Thursday.

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