Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod
Kasargod, Jul 10: A day after an 8-year-old boy was stabbed to death at Periya Kaliyath by a man who was said to be mentally ill, the police have now learnt that a personal grudge against the boy's father led the accused to take 'revenge' by killing the boy.
Mohammed Fahad (8), son of Abbas and Ayesha, residents of Periya, was stabbed to death allegedly by Vijayan (32) on Thursday July 10 when the boy was walking to school along with his younger sister Shahala and another child. Vijayan was later caught by the locals and handed over to the police.
Vijayan, who was behaving like a mentally ill person, is now believed to have planned the boy's murder.
About a year ago, Vijayan had been arrested for calling up the police and falsely claiming that there was a bomb on a railway track. After he was released, Vijayan reportedly told several persons that the boy's father Abbas had passed on information about him to the police and held Abbas responsible for his arrest. Vijayan's photo had appeared in some newspapers a day after his arrest, and he claimed that Abbas had provided his picture to the media.
Moreover, Vijayan had also been hospitalized in Mallapuram for psychiatric treatment, and it is alleged that Abbas had a hand in this too. Vijayan even held Abbas responsible for the death of his cat a few days back, it is said.
It is learnt that during interrogation, Vijayan revealed more information on all the above points. The police hence suspect that Vijayan harboured a grudge against Abbas and planned to finish him off several times. However, when he could not lay his hands on Abbas, he targetted his son, said the police.
Vijayan used to peel coconuts for a living. On Thursday, when Fahad was walking to school, Vijayan who was in a nearby pump shed came towards him and allegedly hacked Fahad to death with a sickle used to peel coconuts.
The accused has been produced in court and sent to judicial custody. Sources said that the police may seek his custody in order to gather more information.
Also, sources said that the murder-accused is a BJP-RSS worker, and police are trying to find out if anyone instigated him to commit the crime. Even the CPM has claimed that Vijayan is an RSS activist. The CPM has also alleged that the police branded Vijayan as 'mentally unstable' in an attempt to close the case. Political parties and organizations have called for a fair and thorough probe into the incident.