Concerning the investigation into the murder of four family members in Thodupuzha of Idukki district of Kerala, the district police chief has reportedly ruled out theft as the reason behind the murder.

A report by Manorama News claims that even though the house does not bear any evidence of a break-in, police have reported that a few ornaments have gone missing from the house.

Superintendent of Police, KB Venugopal, has said that the crime could have been committed by someone who knew the family very well.

Following this, relatives of the deceased have come under the scanner of police officials.

On Friday, the police had taken two persons into custody for interrogation.

It is suspected that the two people in custody used to have dealings with Kanat Krishnan who was the head of the family, in relation to various land matters as well as black magic practices.

Police had earlier questioned 15 persons on the basis of suspicion, out of which two were taken into custody.

As per what the police have told the media, the doctors who did the postmortem say that the murder was likely to have been committed by more than one person.

The bodies of Kanat Krishnan (52), his wife Susheela (50), their daughter Arsha (21), and son Arjun (18) were found on Wednesday, stacked inside a pit dug in the backyard of their house. The house located inside a rubber plantation, is somewhat isolated, with the nearest house too lying vacant.

With their families, friends and neighbours telling police that Krishnan was a black magic practitioner, who had visitors even in the dead of night, police are investigating if a disgruntled client was behind the murders. The families of both Krishnan and Susheela too are being questioned.

After the post-mortem at Kottayam Medical College, the funeral was held on Thursday evening. Though the couple’s families were present during the solemn occasion, they all maintained that they had never been close to Krishnan and his wife and were unaware if the family had been in any financial trouble.