The autopsy of the three-month-old Kerala infant that was the sixth child of a Malappuram couple to have died mysteriously has ruled out any unnatural cause and a doctor suspects the reason could lie in the “sudden death” syndrome instead of any foul play.
The state police had registered a case of unnatural death and exhumed the body of the latest victim on Tuesday after local people raised suspicion behind a series of deaths in a family in the last nine years.
“We could not find any unnatural cause in the post-mortem report. For other details we need to have a detailed gene test,” said a senior police officer of Malappuram district.
The case, however, will be closed only after taking detailed statements of parents, relatives and doctors, the officer noted.
While the police may be clueless at the moment, but Dr K Naushad, a paediatrician who treated some of Rafeeq and Sabhna’s children who perished in mysterious circumstances, said they had some genetic problems.
“I suspect they were suffering from sudden death syndrome. I advised them to seek treatment in a super speciality hospital in Kochi,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“I suspect they were suffering from sudden death syndrome. I advised them to seek treatment in a super speciality hospital in Kochi,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The couple told the police that they got married in 2010 and had six children in nine years--four girls and two boys-- who all died of fits and other nerve-related complaints. Five of them died in their infancy and one girl died when she was four years old.
The neighbours alleged that the children were buried in a hurry, raising suspicion, which is why they alerted the police. The neighbours also said that the bereaved parents led a secluded life.
Relatives of the couple, however, insisted that the parents had sought medical help and these deaths were ‘natural’ and beyond their control.