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How A Love Triangle In Kerala Ended Up In A Murder In Australia

A tragic tale, straight out of a Bollywood movie.
Sam Abraham and his wife Sofia.
Sam Abraham/Facebook
Sam Abraham and his wife Sofia.

Last year in October, an elderly couple in Karuvaloor village in Kerala's Kollam district lost their son Sam Abraham. They were told that Sam, who was 35 then, had died of a sudden heart attack in Australia where he lived with his wife and son.

A year later, the Australian police has said that Sam was murdered by his wife and her lover.

According to reports, Sam was poisoned with cyanide by his wife, Sofia. She has been arrested along with one of her friends, Arun Kamalasanan.

Kamalasanan is also from Kollam and worked in Melbourne in Australia.

Sam and Sofia's love story was straight out of a Bollywood movie.

They were childhood friends and shared a love of music. They were both members of the Bethel Marthoma Church choir and would meet each other every Sunday during choir practice.

Years later, they fell in love with each other and wanted to get married. But Sam's father wasn't too keen about the relationship.

"I initially opposed their marriage but was forced to accept it when Sofia threatened to kill herself," he told the Indian Express.

Sam and Sofia eventually got married in 2008.

In this fairy tale love story, there was another man called Arun Kamalasanan.

According to reports, Sofia met Arun when she was in college, studying for a Masters degree in electronics. Later, Arun moved to Melbourne and lived there with his wife and son.

According to the police, Sofia and Arun were having an extra-marital affair and plotted Sam's murder on the online chat app, Facebook Messenger.

Soon after her marriage to Sam, Sofia moved to Melbourne after she got a job there. Sam, who was working with a money exchange in Oman, joined her in 2013. In Melbourne, they continued to sing devotional songs in a church choir.

Barely three months before his death, Sam had been attacked by an unidentified man wearing a balaclava. Sam, who was stabbed, had filed a complaint with the police.

"It was a murder attempt. A man with his face covered in a balaclava had been hiding in Sam's car at the railway station," Sam's father said.

A Malayala Manorama report noted that Sam had hinted about problems between him and Sofia when he visited his hometown Kollam before his death.

Sam had casually told his father, "I don't have long to live."

The report said that he had told his relatives that the next time he would be brought in a coffin and also told his father that his body should be buried near his grandfather's grave.

Sam died just three days after he returned from Kerala. Sofia, brought his body home, attended the funeral and rushed back to Melbourne, saying her job would be at risk otherwise.

Three days after the funeral, Sofia reportedly went to a local bank with Sam's death certificate and got all deposits and investment papers transferred in her and her son's names, said Sam's father.

She would call Sam's family every Saturday.

The Herald reports that after Sam's death, Sofia had moved to another apartment in the same area.

When the court pronounced the remand order, Arun and Sofia reportedly stood expressionless.

"Dressed neatly in a white tank top, a large necklace, and with her shoulder-length dark hair out, Mrs Sam was motionless during a short court appearance. At one time she put her face in her hands. Her family was in court and visibly distressed," the report states.

Arun and Sofia have been remanded to judicial custody until February next year. Meanwhile, Sofia and Sam's seven-year-old son was handed over to the care of her elder sister Sonia, a nurse in Melbourne.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.