Published Dec 01, 2023 | 8:43 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 01, 2023 | 8:54 PM
The yoga teacher and his Israeli wife. (Supplied)
Fear persists in Mughathala village near Kottiyam in Kerala’s southern district of Kollam, even though several hours have passed since a celebrated 75-year-old yoga trainer from the village attempted suicide after murdering his 36-year-old live-in partner from Israel, on Thursday, 30 November.
Krishna Chandran, alias Chandrasekharan Nair, is fighting for his life at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital.
The village learnt about the gruesome occurrence late Thursday night when some of Nair’s relatives arrived at their house to inquire about their well-being.
According to the villagers, the man and his partner were mild-mannered and rarely engaged in conversation with those around them.
According to the police, the couple had been living in the flat — rented from Nair’s cousins Bindu and Ravikumar — for a few months.
The cops added that they used ayurvedic treatments and yoga instruction to augment their income.
Swat Vaa from Israel, who later assumed the Indian name Radha, was identified as the deceased woman.
Bindu told reporters that she found out about the incident late in the evening when she and her husband went to check on them. She noticed the pair lying in a pool of blood. Nair was conscious.
Nair rose from the floor and closed the door from the inside when she yelled out to the neighbours for help.
It took a lot of effort for the locals and the Kottiyam police to break the door down, where they discovered that the woman was already dead and Nair was in critical condition.
Nair was taken to the district hospital in Kollam first and then to the government medical college in Thiruvananthapuram. His condition is still critical.
Swat Vaa’s body is now being kept at the Government Medical College in Parippally, Kollam, to fulfil the formalities associated with the death of a foreign national and to undertake postmortem examinations.
Bindu stated that Nair met Swat Vaa over 15 years ago while working as a yoga teacher in Uttarakhand. She started as a yoga student under him.
They married soon after and moved to Kottayam. The couple came to Kottiyam a few months ago to practise Ayurveda and yoga.
According to the police, Nair stated that he and Swat Vaa had been discussing suicide for some time after encountering health issues.
Swat Vaa stabbed herself around lunch on Thursday as part of the suicide pact. Nair informed the cops that she did not die as a result of the wound and had requested that he murder her.
Nair informed authorities that after confirming her death, he stabbed himself with the same knife.
Kottiyam police have filed a murder and attempted suicide complaint under Sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to investigators, the woman had an overseas citizenship in India. The police have yet to validate Nair’s assertion that they married lawfully.
According to the accused, the woman was suffering from severe depression and was not getting better after his yoga instructions. The accused, too, stated that he had psoriasis and did not want to live any longer, and so the couple agreed to die by suicide.
According to authorities, a suicide note was located in the room, but its authenticity is yet to be verified.
