Son murdered former Ranji player Jayamohan Thampi, claims police

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The death of former Ranji cricketer Jayamohan Thampi (64) has turned out to be a murder allegedly committed by his own son. The police on Tuesday recorded the arrest of his son, Aswin (33) following the revelation.
According to the police, the death of Jayamohan Thampi resulted owing to a head injury he suffered during a drunken brawl between the father-son duo.
Fort assistant commissioner R Prathapan, who is supervising the investigation, said that the alleged crime took place on Saturday evening.
"The father and son had a habit of regularly consuming alcohol together at home. On Saturday too, they consumed liquor. Aswin, who possessed Jayamohan Thampi’s debit card, wanted to withdraw money from the ATM to buy more liquor, which Thampi refused. This made way for a brawl between them," the officer said. They brawled on the verandah of the house, where Thampi slipped and fell, banging his face against the floor. He lay there for some time until his son came back and dragged his body back inside the house. Then, he continued to consume liquor until he passed out.
Jayamohan Thampi’s body was found in a putrefying state in his residence at Manacaud on Monday morning. It were his tenants, who lived in the first floor of his house, alerted the cops after sensing a strong stench emanating from the house.
The doctors, who performed the autopsy examination, told the police that the body was already 36 hours old when found. A serious injury suffered in the head was considered as the cause of death. Besides the head injury, his nasal bones too had fractured during the fall.
Aswin's arrest was recorded at Fort police station in the city. The police have invoked Section 302 of the IPC (murder) against him. He will be produced before the court on Wednesday. Aswin is a chef by profession, who had not been working for a while. Though he was married, his wife allegedly left owing to his addiction to alcohol. Jayamohan Thampi has another son, Ashiq, who lives separately, the police said.