The father of the 23-year-old man who killed five persons, including his brother and girlfriend, on Saturday said that the family did not have any big financial problems.

The police on Friday had said that financial liabilities were suspected to be the motive behind the gruesome mass murder at Venjaramoodu near here recently.

The accused's father, who returned from abroad a day ago, told reporters that "we did not have any big financial liabilities".

"It was not an issue in our family," he added.

He also said that he does not know what led to the killings and the police will have to investigate that aspect.

Police had said that the family of the accused, Afan, had a debt of over Rs 65 lakh and that it was somewhat clear in the investigation till now that the financial problems pushed him to commit the murders.

Afan, on February 24, allegedly killed his 88-year-old grandmother, 13-year-old brother, girlfriend, paternal uncle and the latter's wife.

He had also brutally attacked his mother, but she survived and is presently undergoing treatment for her injuries.

Afan was arrested on Thursday and remanded to judicial custody till March 13 in connection with the murder of his grandmother.

The murders occurred in three different places that fall under two police station limits --Venjaramoodu and Pangode--and the arrest on Thursday was recorded for the crime committed under the Pangode police station limits.

The arrests in other cases will be recorded later, the police have said.

After committing the crime, Afan had appeared before the police in Venjaramoodu and confessed to the horrific acts.

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