The Scotland Yard is investigating the death of a family originally from Kerala, India after the bodies of the wife and daughters were found in their house, while the husband was found hanging on Wednesday near a reservoir in east London.
The couple has been named as Pullarkattil Rethishkumar, 44, Shigi Kotuvala 37, and twin daughters Neha and Niya, 13, who went to Chadwell Heath Academy in year eight. They had reported to have moved to the Chadwell Heath area in east London nearly eight years ago. The motives remained unclear but the police are investigating whether the wife and daughters were killed by the husband, who later hanged himself.
The police said the last confirmed sighting of the family was on 10 May. Neighbours described the family as ‘lovely, sweet’. The wife was said to be a social worker for Havering council, while her husband worked for the Redbridge leisure services. They married in 2001. The family was said to be active members of the local East London Malayalee Association.
The Hindusthan Times reported that the shocked relatives of Shigi in India said they had no idea how this happened. From a middle-class family in Thrissur (70kms south of Kochi), the family had visited their native place a year ago. Shigi had migrated to the UK about nine years ago and had taken her husband and daughters once she settled in her job. Later, her husband also managed a job in a private firm.
According to the Evening Standard, Kotuvala had requested a divorce from her husband after a huge row telling him she was "fed up of this life".
A source close to the family said: "They were having a lot of problems, between them and the children. He was very stressed about his family and the house, and she was unhappy. He was unable to understand things over here and for a number of years they had issues."
The Met Police has launched an investigation, as a usual procedure the Directorate of Professional Standards is reviewing the police response, and a referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission was made on 12 May.
