Idukki: Each morning before leaving for work, Mohanan shared a cup of strong black coffee with his six-year-old grandson Devan — lovingly called 'Ambadi.' A daily wage labourer from Upputhara, Mohanan treasured those quiet moments. Ambadi and his younger sister Divya were his world.

But that morning, something felt different. Ambadi didn’t wake up to see him off. When Mohanan returned home from his work site in Kattappana that evening, he walked into a nightmare - his son Sajeev Mohanan (32), an auto-rickshaw driver; wife Reshma (25); and their children Devan (6) and Diya (4)- were found hanging inside their house. The postmortem revealed that Reshma was two months pregnant.

Struggling to hold back tears, Mohanan recounted the final memories with his grandchildren. “Last night, I served Ambadi rice and fish curry. Everything seemed normal,” he said, his voice cracking with grief. The next morning, he left as usual for his work as a mason at the ITI Hill site in Kattappana — unaware that he would never see them alive again.

It was Sajeev’s sister, Sulakshana, who first sensed something was wrong. She returned from her job at a cardamom estate to find the house silent. Repeated knocks and calls went unanswered. Concerned neighbours eventually forced open the door and found the bodies in the living room.

According to Mohanan, his son had taken a loan of ₹3 lakh from a private finance firm in Kattappana to purchase the autorickshaw. Though the monthly EMI was ₹8,000, Sajeev had defaulted on payments for the past two months. The family, Mohanan said, was being constantly harassed by a local recovery agent — both in person and over the phone.

Unable to bear the pressure, Sajeev had temporarily left home to look for work outside and returned just ten days before the incident. But the threats didn’t stop. He had stopped stepping outside altogether in his final days.

Mohanan said he had spoken to the finance company and promised to clear the dues by the 30th of the month. Yet the harassment continued. “He was under unbearable mental strain. I believe that’s what pushed him to this tragic end,” he said.