Palakkad: In a shocking incident, an elderly couple was hacked to death at Ottappalam here around midnight on Sunday. The deceased are Nazeer (63) and Suhara (60), natives of Thottakkattukkara. Their four-year-old grandson, who sustained serious injuries in a machete attack, is in critical condition.

Police nabbed Muhammad Rafi, a native of Ponnani in Malappuram district and the couple’s son-in-law, in connection with the incident.

According to Ottappalam police, Rafi allegedly attacked the couple on Sunday night and attempted suicide by slitting his wrist. Though he went absconding after the murders, police and local residents traced him to an abandoned plot near a mosque. He was found with a bleeding wrist and was immediately hospitalised, police said.

The brutal murder came to light when the couple’s daughter Sulfiyath, wife of the accused, managed to flee from the house with her injured son, fearing she would be the next target. Alerted by the woman, the neighbours rushed to the house and found the couple dead in a pool of blood. However, the accused had fled the scene and attempted to end his life.

Sulfiath’s four-year-old son, who sustained injuries, is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Vaniyamkulam.

Ottappalam police told Onmanorama that Rafi needs to be interrogated in detail to ascertain the motive behind the crime. It is suspected that a domestic altercation led to the double-murder.