Nine years after the alleged murder of Jayamadhavan Nair, who was the last heir of the Koodathil family at Karamana, the City Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested Ravindran Nair, 60, the prime suspect in the case. Ravindran, a former court staff, had served as the Koodathil family's caretaker. Nair was produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate on Tuesday night. The arrest was made after nearly a decade-long legal battles and scientific examinations. The police have listed two more accused in the case. One of them, Anil, is dead, while the other accused, Saju, is abroad.

Initially registered as a case of unnatural death, the Karamana police altered the charge to murder after forensic report showed that the death of Jayamadhavan was a homicide. Jayamadhavan died on April 2, 2017. According to Ravindran's statement, Jayamadhavan accidentally fell from the bed and hit his head, which caused his death. He claimed that he, along with family cook Leela and an auto-driver, Sumesh, took Jayamadhavan to the hospital.

The police, however, noticed glaring contradictions in Ravindran's statements. There were mismatches in the statements related to the timing of the incident and the people who accompanied him to hospital. Later, Sumesh told the police that he was persuaded by Ravindran to give a false statement. The Crime Branch then took over the probe from Karamana police. As the investigation progressed, striking similarities in the serial deaths of members of the Koodathil family with those of the sensational Koodathayi murder gained prominence. Six members of a family were allegedly murdered within a span of 14 years at Koodathayi in Kozhikode.

Jayamadhavan was the seventh member and the last heir of the affluent Koodathil family who had died within two decades. It was widely rumoured that all the previous deaths were murders. The police couldn't initiate a probe into those deaths since no cases were registered or autopsies were conducted. It was alleged that the family members were killed as part of a ploy to grab the property.

During the course of the investigation, the police also suspected that Ravindran had forged a will to obtain crores worth of property owned by Jayamadhavan. The forensic report proved that Jayamadhavan's signature was forged. Ravindran was also subjected to Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling (BEOS), or the brain mapping test, in Bangalore in 2025. The report also confirmed Ravindran's involvement in the murder.

According to police officials associated with the probe, Ravindran had managed to get the will ready using a forged signature and wanted Jayamadhavan to die. His plan went awry when Jayamadhavan planned to get married and started seeking proposals. He allegedly got into a verbal spat with Jayamadhavan on April 2, 2017, over the marriage plan. In a fit of anger, Ravindran held his head and slammed it hard against the wall and wooden bed. He was also smothered by Ravindran. Head trauma and strangulation were cited as reasons for death.