A husband-wife duo was found dead and their three children injured, two of them seriously, inside their home at Karuvelippady within Thoppumpady police station limits in the early hours of Wednesday.
Rafeek, 51, was found hanging from the ceiling in the drawing room while his wife Jancy, 46, also known as Nasiya, was found to have bled to death in the bedroom from a wound suspected to have been inflicted on the back of her neck with a blunt object.
Jeffrin, 21, and Saina, 12, who were found with head injuries, and Shefin, 18, who had a wound on his hand, were rushed to Medical Trust Hospital by the police who reached the home around 1.30 a.m.
According to the police, Shefeek hacked his wife in the bedroom before entering the next room where their children were sleeping. He allegedly hacked the elder son, Jeffrin, before attacking the other two children.
Jeffrin recovered from the initial shock on hearing the scream of his brother and pulled back the attacker by his hip. In between Shefin switched on the light, and only then did they realise that the attacker was their father, the police said.
They reportedly yelled out asking the father why he was attacking them even as they pushed him out of their room to the adjoining drawing room.
They then rushed to the other room only to find their mother dead, and by the time they returned they found the father hanging from the ceiling, the police said.
Amidst the pandemonium, the elder son ran out of the house screaming for help, which brought in people in the neighbourhood who immediately alerted the police.
The police said the cause of the alleged attack was not immediately known. Neighbours found the family a happy lot with no known sources of financial or personal troubles, the police said.
Meanwhile, hospital sources said that Jeffrin had a skull fracture while a scan revealed that Saina had internal bleeding. Both of them were in the intensive care unit.