A 23-year-old man allegedly murdered his estranged partner’s brother in front of the latter’s parents in Kerala’s Kollam city before dying by suicide, police said.

According to the FIR, Thejas Raj had been unhappy with his ex-partner’s family since after she broke off their relationship, the family fixed her marriage with another man.

At around 7 pm on Monday, Raj went to the woman’s house in the Uliyakovi area of Kollam and allegedly stabbed Febin George Gomez (21), a second-year undergraduate student, to death. Febin’s father, George, was also injured in the attack.
 

After this, Raj, dressed in a black outfit that partially covered his face, drove his car for around 3 km, stopped near railway tracks and took his own life, police said. Bottles of petrol were recovered from the car, they said.

Raj was the son of a police sub-inspector.

Police said Raj had been classmates with Febin’s sister for several years, having attended higher secondary and engineering courses together at the same institute.

“Although they belonged to different communities, their families were not against their relationship. Meanwhile, the woman got a job in a leading bank, but Thejas Raj, who had passed the written test for a job as a police constable, failed to clear the physical test. This left him depressed and the woman is said to have drifted away from the relationship. The woman’s family also prevented him from pestering her after she decided to end the affair. This seems to be the provocation for the murder,” a police officer said.

Febin’s mother was quoted in the FIR as having told police that after the family fixed their daughter’s marriage with another man, Raj had held a grudge against them. She alleged that Raj came to their home with the intention of killing both his estranged partner’s parents as well as their son Febin.
 

According to police, on Monday evening, Raj had first attacked Febin’s father, George, following a brief argument with him, before stabbing and grievously injuring Febin. CCTV footage showed Febin running out of the house after being stabbed and collapsing on the road, after which local residents rushed him to hospital. However, he succumbed to the injuries.

After the incident, police began searching for the black-clad suspect and were soon notified of a man wearing similar clothing having been found to have died by suicide in a nearby area. They then identified him as the man they were looking for.

College student Febin had been working part-time as a delivery man. George, who is now said to be out of danger, works as a driver at a hospital in Kollam.