Kozhikode: The mystery surrounding the deaths of two cousins at Moozhikkal last week has deepened, prompting the police to expand their investigation to include relatives who were present in the house at the time of the incident. The development follows the recovery of the girl’s mobile phones from a well within the compound.

The victims, 16-year-old Nasreena and her 20-year-old cousin Adnan, were found dead in separate rooms of their maternal home in the early hours of April 14. According to investigators, Adnan had entered the house through the back door the previous evening. He is suspected to have strangled the Class 10 student around 1.20 am before taking his own life in another room, which was locked from the inside. Police also noted that his face was covered with insulation tape.

During the investigation, police recovered Adnan’s mobile phone from the room where his body was found. However, Nasreena’s phones were initially missing, triggering a detailed search of the premises. While officers first suspected that the phones had been thrown out of a window on the western side of the house, searches in that area proved unsuccessful.

Subsequently, a thorough inspection of a well on the eastern side of the property led to recovery of two mobile phones belonging to Nasreena. The discovery has raised suspicions of possible third-party involvement, as investigators believe it would have been difficult for Adnan to dispose of the phones in the well, given its location and the sequence of events.

Police said Adnan was seen moving to another room soon after being noticed by the girl’s grandmother and other relatives, making it unlikely that he could have accessed the well. Investigators are now examining whether someone else present at the house may have thrown the phones into the well.

Further complicating the case, police found that a message reading “I am leaving..” was sent from Nasreena’s phone to one of Adnan’s friends around 1.45 am, nearly 25 minutes after her death. Officers suspect that Adnan may have sent the message.

The girl’s mother was the first to alert police and relatives. When officers arrived, they broke open the locked room and found Adnan lying on the floor. Both victims were rushed to hospital but were declared dead.

Police will record the statement of a relative who was among the first to reach the house after being informed of the incident by Nasreena’s grandmother, in an effort to determine how the mobile phones were disposed of in the well.

According to a senior officer with Chevayur police, the investigation team will question all those who arrived at the house immediately after the incident as part of efforts to reconstruct the sequence of events.

Preliminary findings suggest that the crime may have been driven by personal enmity, with police indicating that Adnan may have acted out of resentment towards Nasreena, who had reportedly opposed his alleged anti-social activities, before taking his own life.