Kerala couple, their friend found dead in Arunachal hotel under mysterious circumstances; black magic suspected

Itanagar: Three people from Kerala, including two women, were found dead under mysterious circumstances in a hotel at Hapoli, Ziro, in Lower Subansiri district, Arunachal Pradesh, on Tuesday, police said.

The deceased have been identified as Naveen Thomas (39), Devi B (39) and Arya B Nair (29), Lower Subansiri SP Keni Bagra said.

He said a verbal report was received at Ziro PS to the effect that one guest, namely, Naveen Thomas, had checked in the hotel along with his wife and a friend on March 28.

“It was reported from the staff of the hotel that the guests have not been seen since April 1. Early on Tuesday, on suspicion, the staff checked the room in which the guests were staying and found it locked from inside. Reportedly, they broke open the room, wherein all the occupants were found dead,” Bagra said.

On receipt of the information, a police team reached the place of occurrence and found the trio dead inside the room.

One lady, namely, Arya B. Nair (29) of Sreeragam, Trivandrum, was found lying dead on the bed with her wrist cut with a sharp blade. The other lady, Devi B (39) of Meenadam, Kottayam, was found lying dead on the floor with cut marks on her neck as well as on the right side of the wrist. The male deceased, identified as Naveen Thomas (39) of Meenadam, Kottayam, was found lying dead in the bathroom with cut mark on his left wrist.

The deceased Naveen Thomas and Devi B were husband and wife. The police team, with the assistance of forensic experts from PTC Banderdewa, searched and seized all the existing evidence available in the hotel room.

“The postmortem result is scheduled on Wednesday. Three UD cases under Section 174 CrPC have been registered and endorsed to SI J Doye for investigation,” the SP said.

During the initial investigation, it was found that there is a missing FIR registered against deceased Arya B. Nair at Trivandrum. Further investigation is underway, considering all angles, Bagra added.

In Kerala, noted cultural activist Soorya Krishnamoorthy, a relative of Devi, revealed that her father Balan Madhavan believed the deaths were due to black magic.