A quiet village in north Kerala was shaken Monday night after four members of a single family were found dead inside their locked home, an incident police believe was driven by a bitter child custody dispute that reached a critical point hours earlier.

The deaths occurred in Ramanthali, near Payyannur in Kannur district. Those found dead were Kaladharan KT, aged 36, his mother Usha KT, 56, and Kaladharan’s two young children Hima, aged six, and Kannan, aged two.

Police investigations suggest the children were poisoned first. Officers recovered a container from the room that held milk mixed with pesticide, leading investigators to believe it was given to the children before the adults acted.

Postmortem examinations later confirmed poisoning as the cause of death for both children. A police officer said, “Subsequently, Kaladharan and Usha also consumed poison and later died by hanging,” indicating the sequence of events reconstructed so far.

The tragedy came against the backdrop of an ongoing separation between Kaladharan and his wife, Nayanthara, who had been living apart for several months. The matter had reached court, which had recently directed Kaladharan to hand over the children to their mother. Police said they had contacted him the previous night to coordinate the transfer.

Suicide Note Found

An alleged suicide note was found at the house, pointing to prolonged marital conflict. Investigators are examining its contents as part of a broader inquiry into the family’s circumstances.

Police also revealed that Nayanthara had earlier filed a complaint accusing Kaladharan’s father of misbehaving with the children. That case was registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The children’s grandfather was not present at the house at the time and was living elsewhere.

The deaths were discovered after family members grew concerned when calls went unanswered. An inquest was conducted by Payyannur police, after which the bodies were shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Pariyaram for postmortem procedures.

Authorities have registered a case of unnatural death and say the investigation is ongoing to determine the full circumstances leading up to the incident.