In a crime that has shocked Kerala, two teenagers surrendered at the Ambalavayal police station on December 28 and claimed that they had killed their uncle and chopped his body into pieces. The girls told the police that they killed 70-year-old Muhammed, their paternal aunt's husband, for attempting to rape their mother and dumped his body in a well. However, Muhammed’s wife has rejected this claim and has alleged that her brother committed the murder, while his wife and daughters were taking the blame for it.

The girls, aged 15 and 16, and their mother surrendered before police in the afternoon of December 28, hours after the murder. The incident was reported from Aayiram Kolli village under Ambalavayal police station limit in Wayanad district. Muhammed had two wives and the three of them were living in a small house with the accused woman and her two girls. The accused woman’s husband is Muhammed’s wife’s brother.

The siblings told the police that they hacked Muhammed to death when they saw him trying to rape their mother at their home at around 11 am. Later, they chopped his legs and stuffed it in their school bags. They dumped the torso in an abandoned well in their neighborhood while the legs were dumped in a chemical plant a few km away. The body has been recovered from the well, the police said. An axe and a knife, the weapons used to kill Muhammed, have been found as well. 

Police said the girls and mother have been arrested and booked under IPC section 302 (murder) read with 34 (common intention).

Muhammed’s family, however, has alleged that it is not the girls and their mother who has committed the murder and dragged the body, but had help. According to one of Muhammed’s wives, he took care of the two accused minor girls but had disagreements with the father.