Letter noted place where passports were kept, for bodies to be flown home to Kerala.
By Nasreen Abdulla
DUBAI: A Dubai-based distributor and producer of Malayalam films was found dead along with his family in their flat in Al Nahda in what is believed to be a murder-cum-suicide pact. The partially decomposed bodies of Santhosh Kumar, his wife Manju and their daughter Gauri was found by police on July 16 after concerned relatives reported that they had been missing since July 8th.
Police officials say they believe the couple took the drastic step after mounting financial problems. Investigations have revealed that Santhosh Kumar had multiple bounced checks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Police say the daughter was smothered to death and found on the bed next to her mother who had her wrists slit. The father was lying next to the bed, also with slit wrists. An eyewitness said that the air conditioning had been turned off, most likely to avoid the stench from traveling through the AC ducts.
Sources say that police found a letter written by Kumar in which he mentioned the places where the family’s passports had been kept so that they could be used to repatriate their bodies.
“We had heard that he and his family were missing,” said a family friend. “There were rumors that he was facing financial problems. So we thought that they had probably fled the country. We did not have even an inkling that the family had committed suicide. I don’t know why they did it. Probably a sense of shame that would accompany if the society got to know their difficulties or if they had to alter their current lifestyle.”
Kumar, who owns the production company Souparnika Films in the south Indian state of Kerala, was a co-producer of hit Malayalam movies like Madampi and remakes of classic hits like Neelathaamara and Rathinirvedham. He suffered a setback when another remake he produced Chattakkari bombed at the box office.