Indian expat couple's death in Kerala: Police register murder and unnatural death cases

Ras Al Khaimah: In a fresh update, Kerala Police confirmed to Gulf News that they have registered two cases in the death of the Indian expat couple who were found dead at their home in the south Indian state on Saturday.

The longtime residents of Ras Al Khaimah were found dead just hours before the pair were due to fly back to the UAE.

The deceased have been identified as S Sughathan, in his mid sixties, and his wife Latha, in her mid fifties, and Kadakkal Police Station in Kollam district has registered two separate cases arising from the same incident, Kerala Police told Gulf News over the phone.

Police confirmed that a murder case has been filed against the elderly husband, who is believed to have killed his wife before taking his own life

In the case of Sughathan, a Ras Al Khaimah resident of over four decades, police have registered a case of unnatural death, which is the standard legal classification used in India when suicide is suspected and the full circumstances are yet to be formally established.

The couple, who ran a construction company in the UAE along with other businesses back home, were just hours away from boarding a flight back to RAK when the tragedy unfolded last Saturday.

Kerala Police said that prima facie, it appears the couple had an altercation on Friday night and that the husband allegedly acted in a moment of sudden, extreme provocation.

Investigators have been careful to stress that this remains their working assessment at this stage, and the inquiry is ongoing.

Police also confirmed that the couple were not alone in the house at the time. While the family maintains two homes in Kerala, one in Thiruvananthapuram and the other an ancestral house in Kollam, the incident took place at their house in Kadakkal in Kollam, where some of their relatives also live.

Police confirmed that Sughathan's sister and Latha's mother were both present in the house that morning. When the couple failed to come out for breakfast, the family grew uneasy. After repeated attempts to rouse them went unanswered, relatives raised the alarm, leading to the discovery that has since left the community in shock.  Sugathan was reportedly found hanging, while Latha was discovered unresponsive on the bed.

Police said the investigation is actively under way, and the post-mortem report is expected to be ready within one week. The findings of that report are likely to be critical in formally establishing the cause and manner of both deaths.

As reported earlier by Gulf News, the couple's bodies were buried rather than cremated, an unusual step for a Hindu family, apparently to preserve the remains should investigators need to conduct further examination.

The couple are survived by their two children, who live in the UAE. They had flown home to Kerala after the tragedy.