Nobody could make an informed guess as to who might have stabbed Ayyappan. But that did not stop wild speculations. Some said that it was all to do with a woman. One fellow said that he happened to know that Ayyappan had been taking treatment for venereal diseases, and he went into excruciating detail about this. Then there were others who said that the man who’d stabbed Ayyappan had not tried to escape, that he’d gone straight to the police station and turned himself in, and that it was on the basis of his information that the police had rushed to the spot, found Ayyappan on the brink of death, and taken him to the hospital. A few people were now on their way to the government hospital, running as fast as they could.

I went to the restaurant, picked up my bag, and went home. I washed up, ate my breakfast, and then set out on my bicycle to the police station, then to the government hospital, from there to the offices of the Nesan, and then on to the Thirteenth Ward, where Dhamu and Khader were contesting the election. Only then could I begin to get a sense of what had happened.

Both Dhamu and Khader were arrested that night, and the Travancore Nesan confirmed the news the next morning. The paper also published a portion of Khader’s statement to the police.

People were shocked to learn from Khader’s sworn testimony in court, which was later printed in the newspaper, that Ayyappan had approached Khader several days before he was stabbed under the tamarind tree. Khader had been sheltering him in his house with the hope that he might be able to use Ayyappan, when the time was right, to avenge himself against Dhamu.