Kochi, Feb. 28 -- The Kerala police arrested 23-year-old Afan on Thursday in connection with the murders of five people, including four members of his family, near Venjaramoodu in Thiruvananthapuram district and said that the family's mounting debt might have spurred him to commit the gruesome murders.

Afan, a resident of Perumala in Pullampara panchayat, surrendered before the Venjaramoodu police on Monday evening confessing to have killed six people. Police subsequently found bodies of his grandmother, younger brother, uncle, aunt and his girlfriend across three houses the same night. He also attacked his mother but she was found alive by the police who rushed her to hospital.

Meanwhile, the accused, who spoke of having consumed poiso...