The Murder of Saraswati Amma was a high profile murder case that happened in Thiruvananthapuram the 50s. She was a wealthy woman and a mother of 3 children. The case attracted a lot of attention in the press due to its gruesomeness and also it being perpetrated in a wealthy neighborhood (Pattom)where such crimes were unheard of .
There were three people involved in this heinous crime. Her husband Krishnan Nair aged 44 who was a contractor, Sivarajan alias Ampi aged 22 who was her servant and Sekharan aged 23, who was the brother of the house kitchen maid
Saraswathy Amma alias Baby, aged 38 and Krishnan Nair were married 10 years and were living in Pattom in the city of Trivandrum. (This house is referred to as the Pattom house in the judgment and no specific name is given).Her ancestral home was in Pazhavangadi where her 76 years old mother lived. (her house is referred to as the Pazhavangadi house). She had three children, a boy named Sakthidharan aged eight, a girl, Rajalakshmi alias Rajam aged six, and again a girl, Girija alias Thankam aged four.
PATTOM HOUSE
THIS WAS WERE THE MURDER OF SARASWATHI AMMA TOOK PLACE
PAZHAVANGADI HOUSE- SARASWATHI AMMA'S ANCESTRAL HOME WHERE HER MOTHER LIVED
All of them were going to school, the youngest to a nursery school just opposite the Pattom house and the older two, to different schools a little distance away. The boy used to go to school in the morning and return only at about four in the evening. The two girls used to go home for their mid-day meal at about half past twelve and go back to school at about half past one to return at about four.(Although the second child had no school in the afternoon, she used to go to the nursery school with her younger sister and play there until that school gave over in the evening).
Krishnan Nair was a P.W.D.Contractor and was also running a lodging house called the "Modern Tourist Lodge" where he had an office. He used to leave home for work at about nine in the morning and return only at about nine in the night. Sivarajan was engaged as as servant by Krishnan Nair about nine months before the murder which took place on the afternoon of 5th August 1957.
Virtually nothing is available regarding this case on Google in the form of any news excerpts. The only information available is from court records available in legal sites. Maybe the long time which elapsed (70 years) has but made this case a forgotten lore.
Saraswathi Amma was last seen alive between 1-45 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Monday the 5th August 1957. That was in or about her house. At about 10 p.m. on Wednesday, the 7th August, her body was found lying buried (but partly exposed) behind the cowshed in the southwestern corner of the compound of the house. Her husband, reported this at the Cantonment Police Station at three the next morning and at 9-30 or 10 the body was exhumed under the direction of the Magistrate, and was identified by her relatives and neighbors.
The autopsy held that afternoon by the doctor, revealed that the deceased had been killed by a cut on the back of her neck with sharp heavy instrument such as a chopper. The cut had gone right through the spinal column, severing the axis from the atlas and completely dividing the cord. Death must have been instantaneous and, judging from the contents of the stomach, must have taken place within an hour or two after the deceased had had her last meal.
The reason for the murder as put forth by the prosecution of the case was that Krishnan Nair and Sarsawati Amma were not on good terms and the former had developed hatred towards his wife. He was getting his mind-day meal from a hotel instead of having it sent from home.
The sequence of events on the day of the tragedy is as follows:
At about 1 p.m. on the 5th August the sweeper of the nursery school just opposite the house saw the deceased at the gate of her house with her youngest child. She was then wearing the blouse which was subsequently (on 29th August 1957, three weeks after the exhumation) recovered torn and tattered from the pit where the body was found buried.
About three quarters of an hour later, at about 1-45 or 2 p.m a neighbouring shopkeeper who was taking his child to the school found her still standing there, but without the child. At about 2-30 p.m., neighbor whose house is by the side of the road, about 200 feet south of the Pattom house, saw Sivarajan and Sekharan going past along the road up to the gate of the Pattom house. Round about the same time, the brother of Sivarajan, who went to the Pattom house to take him to their uncle, for receiving the payment which he used to make them every month, found the gate of the house shut and fastened from within.
The child Rajam, was waiting outside the gate to gain admittance, and it was only after about 5 to 8 minutes of knocking at the gate that Sivarajan came and opened it. He sent his brother away saying that he could not come just then, that he had some work on hand, that Saraswathi Amma had gone out to collect her milk dues (the deceased was keeping cows and was selling milk to the neighbours).
Sometime later, between 3 and 4 p.m., a neighbour, who was passing that way saw the Sekharan come out of the gate of the Pattom house and proceed southwards, his face downcast, and at about 3-30 p.m. Sivarajan went to the tea-shop nearby and bought some vadas for the children. A little before 4, a teacher, who was giving private tuition to the children every evening arrived for that purpose. He did not find the Saraswathi Amma in the house but the Sivarajan was there. Soon the children came and, after teaching them for about an hour or so in the front room of the house he left the house.
Meanwhile at about 4 p.m., the milkman had come to milk the cow and to him Sivarajan said that theSaraswathi Amma had gone out to collect her milk dues. This he repeated to the neighbour when handing over her milk to her over the compound wall at about 5 p.m
At about 6 the neighbour, a woman, saw the Sivarajan standing at the gate of the house with the children, the youngest of whom was crying.
At about 7-30 p.m., Sivarajan and Sekharan went to the cycle shop nearby and took two bicycles on hire. (These were returned the next morning by the 3rd accused and another person). A little befor eight, the Sivarajan appeared at the Pazhavangadi house and reported to the mother of Saraswathi that she had disappeared, and he repeated the story that she had gone out at about 3 p.m. for collecting her milk dues.
The mother sought the assistance of a tenant of hers running an ivory curio shop in the same compound, and he engaged a taxi and took her in it to the house of her nephew, a court Amin living in Karamanai about two or three miles away. From there they collected the relative and proceeded to the Pattom house which they reached soon after nine,
The mother was all the time crying out that her daughter, and probably her grandchildren as well, had been murdered, and her cries attracted a crowd of neighbours and passers by.
A few minutes later, while they were all still at the gate, Saraswathi husband Krishnan Nair arrived in his car and was told of the disappearance of the deceased. He went up the flight of steps to the house, followed by others and the children. When they reached the verandah of the Rouse, somebody handed over a key to the Krishnan Nait with which the latter opened the portico room. They found the two rooms on either side, namely, the bedroom and the storeroom, locked.
Then the Krishnan Nair, against whom Saraswathi’s mother was still shouting her charge of murder, left the place and went away in his car. Meanwhile Sivarajan had arrived.
They went round the house and the surroundings and all the rooms excepting the bedroom and store-room were lying open and they even explored the well with the aid of a bamboo fetched by the 1st accused - but could find nothing.
At about 10 p.m. on the 7th a neighbor who lives about six furlongs away from the Pattom house, was passing by on his way home, and he saw Sivarajan standing outside the house. He asked the 1st accused what news there was of his missing mistress. Sivarajan said that there was no news and that his master had gone to various places to find out. Then he called the man asking him if he did not notice a stench. The man noticed none, but after they had gone up the flight of steps and reached the courtyard he found that there was a smell. Sivarajan then drew the man’s attention to something on the ground behind the cowshed and going near and striking a match the man was able to see a white object there.
He went down to the road and came up again with some friends who happened to be passing by and when they examined the "object more closely with the aid of a torch light they found that the object was a piece of flesh and they also noticed that the ground about the object was freshly upturned.
When questioned about this the Sivarajan said that the flesh was the left-over of the dogs meat (there was an Alsatian dog in the house) and that he had cleared up the place a few days earlier as directed by Krishnan Nair who was staying in the house from the 1st to the 3rd August. Then the others left the place, The neighbor also wanted to go away, but Sivarajan detained him against the arrival of his master.
When the Krishnan Nair came at about 11 p.m., the neighbour told him that he was waiting to see him. But Krishnan Nair went in without waiting to speak to him and then proceeded to the bathroom for a bath. The neighbor then told Edapazhanji Thampi and Sekhara Pillai (friends of Krishnan Nair )about the piece of flesh, and about dogs having gathered there, and he took them to the spot. They examined the place closely with the aid of a torch light and found that the exposed piece of flesh was a human leg and buttock. They concluded that it must be the body of the deceased and they went back to the house where the Thampi told Mr Nair, who had come out after his bath, what they had seen. He sent one man to fetch a taxi, saying that he was going to the police station. It was about midnight then.
At 2-40 a.m. (that is on the 8th) Sivarajan went to the house of the Sub Inspector, woke him up and gave him the information. Together they proceeded to the Cantonment Police Station where they reached at about 3. They recorded from Krishnan Nair the statement,which was treated as the first information on which the present case was registered and investigated. It was about 4 a.m. by the time the recording of was complete.
The police reached the Pattom house at about 4-30 a.m and he found Sivarajan and the neighbor there. They showed him the dead body lying half buried. Then on being questioned by him, the Sivarajan gave the police what he has described as a full and true account of what had taken place. The inspector then took Sivarajan to the house of the Deputy Superintendent of Police where he was once again questioned in the presence of the Deputy Superintendent of police and was arrested at about 6-30 a.m.
Inspector next took the Sivarajan back to the Pattom house where they reached at
about 6-45 a.m.,and at about the same time P.W.
75 also came there accompanied by Sekharan as directed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police.
Thereafter, in pursuance of the statement already made by him, Sivarajan took out and
produced certain articles from places pointed out by him. First three thorthus and a rag and on all of which subsequent chemical examination discovered human blood were
taken from beneath a heap of straw on the western side of the cowshed;, a piece of gunny, a
mundu and a tuft of false hair (on all of which human blood was detected a table
knife, identified as belonging to the house-hold but on which no blood was found were produced from a
shallow pit beneath a plantain tree a little to the north of the kitchen. Along with this some jewellery were also discovered.
The dining room, the alleged scene of the murder, was next inspected. They noticed blood stains on the floor and on the walls.They also noticed blood stains on a stool and on a bench in the room. They found the chopper in the kitchen storeroom. The chopper, the seat of the stool, , a leg of the bench and scrapings from the wall were sent for chemical examination. Human blood was found on them.
The Executive First Class Magistrate, to whom a requisition had been sent for the exhumation of the body, arrived. She found the body lying buried, with a leg and buttock exposed, in a pit about 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 2 feet deep, under some plantain trees at the spot marked B behind the cowshed.
The body was under about six inches of earth covered with plantain leaves and bit of plantain trunk which looked a few weeks old. It was naked (exceptfor a bodice) and highly decomposed, and portions were missing. Four gold bangles (all on the left arm), a pair of earrings and a nose-screw were found on the body, while four other gold bangles (apparently belonging to the right arm, the plam of which was missing) were found in the pit by the side of the body.
Sivarajan confessed that he had murdered the deceased by cutting her with a chopper on the neck and the forehead. That afternoon he and the deceased were alone in the house. Saraswathi Amma was resting, and he woke her up and called her to the room adjoining the kitchen (the dining room) saying that there was a woman waiting to see her. Then he bolted the doors of the room and pushed her down and cut and killed her with a chopper. He also struck her on the chest two or three times with a table knife. Next he dragged the body to a spot south of the cowshed, dug a pit there, and buried the body in it under some earth and pieces of plantain trunk. He concealed the thorthu which he was wearing, as also the mundu and thorthu which she was wearing, all of which were blood-stained, and the blood-stained rags used for wiping the floor, in a place west of the cowshed. The false hair of the deceased and the table knife and some clothes were also concealed. The chains worn by the deceased, and two pairs of studs (earrings) taken by him from an almirah along with a bill, he concealed in a heap of ash. All these he took out and produced in the presence of the police. He bore the deceased bitter-ill-will because the her, who had given a loan of Rs. 125 to the maid-servant, Pwith whom he was intimate, was collecting the extortionate interest of Rs. 5 a month per Rs. 50, and eight annas per day for Rs. 25 which was given later. The deceased always used to scold him and ask him to go away she even laid violent hands on him and, for about a fortnight before the occurrence, was starving him giving him only old kanji, and that only once a day. He had therefore made up his mind to murder her, and was on the lookout for an opportunity when there was no one else in the house.
Sivarajan based on his confession, was produced before the First Class Magistrate, for the purpose of recording a confession from him under section 164. She remanded him to the local sub-jail to give him time to reflect and had him brought up before him again at 3 p.m. the same day. Then, after administering the prescribed warnings, and after questioning him in the manner prescribed by the rules to ensure that he was making a voluntary statement, and being satisfied that he was, Sivarajan repeated more or less what he had said at the inquest, but with greater particularity and with a few variations that are hardly material. He however added that, about a fortnight earlier, there had been a quarrel between the Saraswathi Amma and her husband Krishnan Nair as a result where of they were not on speaking terms, and the Nair used to give the money (Rs. 5) for the household expenses every morning to one or the other of the children muttering a curse.
Based on this Sivarajan was remanded and kept in custody .
On 19th August 1957, Sivarajan told the Superintendent of
the sub-jail that he wanted to be
taken before a magistrate in order to make a confession. He said that now he wanted to speak the truth, not having done so in his earlier statements
for fear of the police and other fears) was to go back on his confessions and throw the whole blame on Krishnan Nair.
The version he gave was that he went out of the house at about 1 p.m. on the 5th August leaving Saraswathi Amma alone in the house, and that, when he returned at about 1-30 p.m. he heard a sound as of cutting coming from the house, on reaching the courtyard. He went inside the house and found Saraswathi Amma lying dead in the closet. She had bleeding injuries. By her side was a blood-stained chopper, and standing near by was Krishnan Nair wearing only a thorthu which, like his face and body, was stained with blood. Nair then buried the body in a pit used for depositing rubbish and dry leaves, covering it with earth and leaves while he stood by dumbfounded. The pool of blood on the floor of the closet was washed into the flush-out, while the blood that had fallen in the courtyard was covered with sand. Nair handed over to him the mundu and thorthu which his wife had been wearing as also the thorthu he himself was wearing, along with a piece of gunny, a table knife, the chopper and two gold chains, and asked him to conceal these articles. These, as also the false hair of the deceased which had fallen off, he concealed in the several places from which he produced them after his arrest. The chopper he washed and kept on the bin in the kitchen-store.
Meanwhile Nair had a wash and went out. At about seven in the evening Sivarajan went to the Pazhavangadi house and, as instructed by Krishnan Nair, informed Saraswathi's mother that she was missing.
From the very beginning, even when he handed over the incriminating articles for being concealed, Nair had asked him to produce them if the police came, and own that he had done the deed. After the body was discovered as a result of the stench, Krishnan Nair went and fetched the Head Constable, Kochuvelu Pillai who, after seeing the body, pronounced that the police must be informed. On this errand all of them left, and, when the police came a little later, in accordance with the instructions given by the Nair, he owned that he had done the deed and showed them the places where the several articles lay concealed.
As per Sivarajan Nair and Saraswathi had quarreled and were not on speaking terms from about a fortnight prior to the murder. There were quarrels over money matters, and there was a quarrel even on the morning of occurrence. Krishnan Nair suspected his wife's character, in particular, her relations with one Nanukuttan who was staying just across the road and had, on many occasions,questioned Sivarajan with regard to this.
The next day, i.e., on the 20th August, Saraswathi's husband Krishnan Nair was arrested based on Sivarajan's confession.On 20th September 1957 he was released on bail.
Sekharan, the other servant was also questioned in the case, first on the 15th August, then on two occasions thereafter, and finally, in his village some miles, away from Trivandrum, on the 25th September five days after Nair's release on bail. He claimed to have been present in the house at the time of the murder. About a fortnight earlier, he had been working with the Sivarajan, putting up a fence in a compound of Nair, and Sivarajan had told him that, at the instance of his master, he had decided to do away with Saraswathi Amma who was ill-treating him because of his close association with his master.
Sivarajan also told him that there was enmity between Nair and his wife because on one occasion, Nair had brought a woman into the house late in the night and asked Saraswathi to make coffee for her, but the strong willed Saraswathi Amma had instead brought a broom and beaten the other woman with it !
So from this statement police concluded that Krishnan Nair had cause for grievance with this wife and a possible motive for murder.
The time was 1950's when forensic science and evidence analysis were in their infancy and so there was no damning evidence to connect any of the accused to the crime in a foolproof manner . However the judges observed that chance of Sivarajan as the perpetrator of the crime was more likely as both Sekharan and Krishnan Nair had given their confessions in this vein . Also the several witnesses who gave evidence in the manner that placed Sivarajan at the scene of the crime at the established time. However court also observed that the motive for murder and the gain from the deed lay more in the direction of Krishnan Nair , the dead woman's husband .
Hence the verdict from the sessions court was death sentence for Sivarajan and Krishnan Nair and imprisonment for Sekharan. Krishnan Nair appealed against the verdict in High court and was later acquitted while Sivarajan's death sentence stood . He went to the gallows protesting his innocence.
What became of Krishnan Nair or his children is not known. The unfortunate children lost a loving mother due to the greed of their father . If the crime had happened now there is every possibility that Krishnan Nair would have gone to Jail.
Krishnan Nair was responsible for Saraswathi's death. Its clear. Unlike his unfortunate servants , he had the means and influence to unentangle himself from the case. He used his servants and finally made them the scapegoat. He was a real villian . Saraswathi Amma was a bold beautiful and independent woman for her time. Her tragic death due to the greed of others resulted in three children losing a wonderful mother.
Pattom House and Pazhavangadi house still stands although with different owners- Silent witnesses to a sensational crime lost in time...........
