Pinarayi, Kannur: The Vannathamveedu family at Padannakkara near Pinarayi has become the focus of the locals and the police for a grisly reason. Four members of the family, including a child, have succumbed to an unexplained illness since 2012. The last three deaths happened in a span of four months. The last surviving member of the family has been admitted to a hospital with similar symptoms.
After the relatives filed a complaint, the Dharmadom police have registered a case over the deaths. The police team plan to conduct a post-mortem on the body of one of the children, Aishwarya, to ascertain the cause of her death. They will seek the permission from the subdivisional magistrate to take out the body and conduct an autopsy.
When tragedy struck
The family's tragedy started way back in 2012, when one-year-old Keerthana died after a bout of vomiting. The family did not insist on a post-mortem as everyone thought it was a natural death.
Keerthana’s elder sister Aishwarya, a class 1 student, died of the same symptoms on January 21 this year. There was no post-mortem for Aishwarya either as the family did not have any complaints.
However, the death of their grandparents in quick succession raised eyebrows. Vadavathi Kamala, aged 68, died on March 7 and Kunjikkannan, aged 76, died on April 13. Neighbours and relatives had their doubts. All the deceased had showed the same symptoms before they died.
The bodies of the aged couple were subjected to post-mortem and the police registered cases of unnatural death.
Kunjikkannan’s daughter and the mother of the two dead children, Saumya, was admitted to the hospital after she complained of vomiting. She is separated from her husband.
Saumya was taken to the hospital on last Tuesday. The doctors said that the woman was only suffering from indigestion and she was out of danger. Her blood samples were being investigated.
A four-member expert team from the Kozhikode Medical College, led by assistant forensic surgeon Dr Sujith Sreenivas, examined the patient on Wednesday.
Samples of water from the family’s well were examined and the tests have not found anything alarming, said officers of the health department and the Kozhikode-based Centre for Water Resources Development and Management.
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