Mystery shrouds over death of 6 kids in a Karala family

Mystery surrounds the sudden death of six children in a span of nine years in Tirur in Malappuram district. They had no ailments, they were not murdered, yet they just died.

But the police in Malappuram launched a probe after registering a suo motu case after the death of the sixth child – three-month-old boy of Tharammal Rafeeq-Sabna couple, natives of Chembra near Tirur.

Neighbours raised suspicion and the police exhumed the body of the boy that was buried on Tuesday morning to ascertain the reason behind the death through postmortem.

Preliminary report submitted by the medical team which conducted postmortem examination of the 3-month-old boy said there is nothing unnatural in the death. “A detailed report would be submitted to police only after the chemical examination results of body,” said circle inspector of Tirur, TP Farshad.

Rafeeq and Sabna got married in 2010 and Sabna gave birth to six children, including four girls, during the past nine years. Five of them had died within months of their birth and one girl died at the age of four. The sixth child, who had no major health issues, died on Tuesday morning and the funeral was held around 10am.

Rafeeq’s sister Noorjahan said there was nothing suspicious in the deaths of the children and the family would cooperate with any kind of investigation. “The first child died when she was sixth months’ old and second child died after two months of its birth. The children had no major health issues and doctors were unable to give a proper explanation for the deaths. So, after the death of the third child on the 25th day, we decided to conduct a detailed examination of his body samples at a major private hospital in Ernakulam. But, the report did not specify any reason for the death of the baby boy,” she said.

Tirur DSP KA Suresh Babu said police will examine all medical records related to the treatment of the children. “We have registered a case of unnatural death. We can arrive at a conclusion on the real cause of the deaths only after receiving the postmortem report of the boy,” he said.

Rafeeq and Sabna got married in 2010 and Sabna gave birth to six children, including four girls, during the past nine years. Five of them had died within months of their birth and one girl died at the age of four. The sixth child, who had no major health issues, died on Tuesday morning