Sunup, a native of Korangad in Kozhikode, who hacked Dr Vipin PT, the casualty doctor at the Government Taluk hospital, Thamarassery, was not convinced about the cause of his daughter's death, and he may have wanted to vent his ire at someone in the hospital and Vipin became a random target, police said. He didn't show any remorse and the attack was planned, cops have learnt during initial questioning.

Kozhikode Rural SP K E Baiju said that he kept saying that nobody bothered to explain to him why his child died. "He came armed with the machete he took from his home. He was targeting the superintendent, but Dr Vipin was attacked instead," he said. Sunup's daughter was brought to the taluk hospital with a high fever on August 14. She was put under observation from morning till afternoon, and she was referred to Medical College Hospital (MCH), Kozhikode, where she died. Her samples tested positive for primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.

Hospital authorities said that Dr Vipin had gone to Korangad for a field investigation and an awareness session. "There was no ground for targeting Dr Vipin. He is in charge of public health and conducted an awareness session at a school in Korangad after PAM was confirmed. Sunup never had an issue with Dr Vipin," said Suresh, Health Inspector at the hospital who worked with Dr Vipin in field investigation and containment following the confirmation of PAM in Korangad. The staff said that the child was not even admitted at the taluk hospital for one day. "Every possible care was administered, but the child got worse and she was referred to the MCH.

Dr Gopalakrishnan, the superintendent of the hospital, said that Sunup used to come to the hospital seeking a death certificate of his daughter. "We always told him that since the child died at the MCH, the certificate would be issued by the Kozhikode Municipal Corporation. We even helped him with filing an online application. The health inspector was also asked to help him. I never had a confrontation with him. Today, I believe I was his target, but he seemed understanding whenever he came here," said Dr Gopalakrishnan.

Sunup, who does odd jobs and runs a small shop, was found to be depressed in the past month, according to the residents. "Whenever we saw him, he would say that his child was denied justice. When we pressed him, he would repeat the same thing. The child was kept under observation only for a few hours and was then shifted. It's not sure why he raised the question of negligence," said Faseela Habeeb, ward member of Korangad.

Minutes before he was hacked by Sunup, Dr Vipin was with the Medical superintendent, attending a conference. "A case came up and I asked him to look into it. The conference was just concluding, and I thought I would finish it and go. By then, the unfortunate incident happened," Gopalakrishnan recalled.

Ayisha Muhammad, an ASHA worker at Thamarassery panchayat, who was present at the hospital, said that she heard people screaming and running towards the casualty. "I had seen him at the conference and the next thing I heard was that he was hacked. He was bleeding and was being rushed to the first floor for intensive care," said Ayisha.

Following his daughter's death, Sunup had raised complaints of medical negligence, and the police had filed a case of unnatural death. He had told the media that his child was not taken care of while she was under observation at the taluk hospital, and only when her condition got worse, they asked him to take her to Kozhikode.