Father, two children found dead at Veli

Thiruvananthapuram: Two children and their father were found dead at Veli on Saturday. The bodies of the siblings, Febin and Feba, were found near the railway track, while that of their father, identified as Shibi, was found in Veli lake. Officials at Thumba police station suspect that the children were murdered by their father, who then committed suicide. Shibi, who used to do painting jobs, was estranged from his wife Hannah, a clerk at SAP camp. Police says there are witnesses who spotted the children with their father at Veli on Friday evening.

The two children were students of St Mary’s HSS, Pattom. Febin was 6 years old and Feba, 8 years old. On Friday, Hannah had lodged a complaint at Medical College police station that Shibi and the children were missing, said the CI of the station. That evening, Shibi had visited Hannah and convinced her that he wanted to take the children to church. He then left off with them, as per the complaint. As the children had not returned home even by night, Hannah had approached Medical College police station around 11 pm, according to the CI.

Febin and Feba

It was a railway gangman who had rung up Thumba police station on Saturday morning, after spotting a severed hand beside the tracks, according to officials there. Upon reaching the spot, police found mutilated bodies of the siblings. There were cuts on their back. A machete was found close by. The police launched a search for the father, suspecting that the hand belonged to him. By evening Shibi's body emerged in Veli lake, according to Kazhakoottom CI S. Ajai Kumar. Autopsy of chldren’s bodies confirms that the children had died because of the machete cuts, he says. Autopsy of Shibi’s body was scheduled later for Saturday night.  Officials say that the body after getting hit by a train, would have gotten tossed into the lake.