The Kerala Police on Monday arrested a 28-year-old man for murdering four members of a family in Idukki district’s Thodupuzha, PTI reported. Their bodies were found buried in a pit behind their home last week.

The police identified the arrested man as Libeesh, a mechanic, and said that main accused, Aneesh, is still on the run.

“All the four were killed by being hit with a silencer pipe used in Bullet bikes,” Idukki district police chief KB Venugopal told PTI, adding that the murder had been planned six months ago. He claimed that they had also planned to rob cash and gold ornaments from the victims’ house.

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The bodies of Kannatu Krishnan (52), his wife Susheela (50), their daughter Aarsha (21) and their son Arjun (18) were found stacked one over the other. “All four had injuries on their faces, Krishnan’s face was fully damaged,” a police officer said. “The boy [Arjun] too had severe wounds, the girl [Aarsha] had injuries on the back.” Krishnan’s wife Susheela had a large wound on her chest.

The police said Krishnan owned a rubber plantation and a case was registered against Krishnan three years ago for allegedly practising black magic.

The police said on Monday that Aneesh, who had learnt “black magic” from Krishnan, had planned to kill him so that could get his master’s “evil powers”. Libeesh assisted him in the murders, they said.