Viswanathan and Bindu had their first child on Thursday, February 9, after eight years of marriage. The delivery took place at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kerala’s Kozhikode, a commute of over two hours from their village in Wayanad. Two days later, the new father was found hanging from a tree on the hospital premises. The police may claim it was a death by suicide, but there is no way he took his own life, his relatives say.

Viswanathan’s mother-in-law Leela had seen him late on Thursday night, when he told her that the security staff at the hospital was accusing him of stealing money from a waiting shed, where relatives of patients are usually stationed. “It was around 10.30 in the night. The security staff told me that Viswanathan had stolen their money and bought things using that. I asked him why he needed to steal money from them when I had money with me and I was giving it to him. The security then told me that it was not their money that he stole, but someone else’s,” Leela tells TNM. The 46-year-old, who hails from the Paravayal tribal colony in Wayanad, was a daily wager by profession.

Leela says she returned to the ward only after she felt that the situation had been sorted. “[Viswanathan] even tried to give his phone to me. I asked him to keep it with himself,” she adds. Later, Leela went down the building looking for him after the nurses informed her that he wanted to see her. However, she could not find him in the bystanders’ waiting shed. "The others there told me that he had headed out, and to check if he may have met with an accident since there were pits in that route. I followed up and found some of the utensils he used, along with his slippers, scattered along the path. Everyone suggested that I lodge a complaint at the police station since endlessly searching on my own may be futile,” Leela says.

Leela went to the police station along with the relative of another patient since she had nobody else to accompany her, and lodged a complaint at the Kozhikode Medical College Police Station. According to her, the police personnel came back with them and searched the hospital premises. "We searched the place where I saw the plate, but he was not there. The police then returned saying that there was no point in searching in the dark and that they would come back with torch lights. But nobody returned,” she adds.

Viswanathan’s brother-in-law Biju says that they combed through the hospital premises on Friday, covering all possible spots, including the tree from which he was found hanging on Saturday. His body was cremated on Sunday.

"We are suspicious because his body was recovered from the same tree, which we had checked the previous day. The relatives who saw the body said that there were injuries on it. The post-mortem was done without informing the relatives. It was as if they conducted the post-mortem on their own will," Biju adds. 

Viswanathan’s nephew Rajesh, who saw the body, says that there were injuries on his legs and hands, as well as swelling on the top of his shoulder. “His nose was bleeding and his lips were swollen, and there was an injury near it as well. It looked like he was beaten up,” Rajesh says.