The Thiruvananthapuram Additional District and Sessions Court VI on Tuesday awarded rigorous life imprisonment to  Cadell Jeanson Raja for the brutal 2017 Nanthancode mass murder, which claimed the lives of four of his family members-  his parents, sister and an aunt.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 15 lakh on him.

The court directed that the fine amount be given to Jose Sundaram, the prime witness in the case and the brother of Jean Padma, one of the victims. Jose, who is currently wheelchair-bound, will receive compensation from the fine imposed under various charges.

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The sessions court judge Vishnu K on Monday found Kedal, the sole accused in the case, guilty of murdering his father, Professor Raja Thankam, mother Dr. Jean Padma, sister Caroline, and aunt  Lalitha.  The  court observed that the accused, who planned and executed the murders does not deserve leniency of a well-functioning legal system.

Cadell was convicted under four counts of Section 302 (murder), with each count carrying a life sentence and a fine of Rs 3 lakh-totalling Rs 12 lakh. He also received seven years of imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2 lakh under Section 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance), and five years with a fine of Rs 1 lakh under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).

During  arguments  for sentencing, the prosecution demanded capital punishment, arguing that the crime fell under the ‘rarest of the rare’ category. However, the defence pleaded for leniency, citing Cadell’s age and psychological state.

The court had termed the crime “grave, serious, and numbing to the conscience.” It observed that the accused, who planned and executed the murders of his parents, sister and relative, does not deserve leniency.

The murders occurred on April 5, 2017. According to the prosecution, Cadell lured his mother, Jean Padma,  to upstairs under the pretext of showing her a video game he had created. He then struck her from behind with an axe. Later that evening, he murdered his father, Raja Thankam and sister Caroline in a similar manner. The following day, he killed Lalitha.

The bodies were kept in a bedroom and partially burned over two nights. On April 9, the charred remains of his parents and sister were discovered, completely burnt. Lalitha’s body had been hacked and only partially burned. The fire, which spread during Cadell’s second attempt to destroy evidence, led to the discovery of the crime.

He fled to Chennai after the incident and was arrested on his return to Kerala. His online search history showed that he had studied mass murders and purchased the murder weapon,a sharp axe,online.

The motive behind the killings was revealed to be deep-seated resentment and hatred toward his family. Kedal had been sent abroad twice for studies but returned home both times without completing them. This led to frequent scoldings from his father, which reportedly intensified Kedal’s animosity.

Initially, Cadell claimed that the murders were part of his experiment in astral projection, where he believed he could detach from his physical body and transcend the boundaries of the living world. But no evidence supported this claim. However, it was later  found that the astral projection story was fabricated to mislead  police.