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Man accused of murdering best friend and father found not guilty

Anandaloj Srianandan was accused of fatally stabbing his friend Preijanthan Chandrababu, 25, and Chandrababu Thambu, 56, in the early morning hours of July 10, 2017.

Chandrababu Thambu, 56, and his 25-year-old son, Preijanthan Chandrababu, were fatally stabbed in 2017

Meghan Grant · CBC News ·
A father and son were fatally stabbed in their northwest home in July 2017, and the son's friend was accused of the murder. On Friday, Anandaloj Srianandan was acquitted on two counts of second-degree murder. (Kate Adach/CBC)

The Calgary man accused of murdering his close friend and friend's father has been found not guilty.

On Friday Court of Queen's Bench Justice Earl Wilson acquitted Anandaloj Srianandan on two counts of second-degree murder.

Srianandan, represented by defence lawyer Pat Fagan, was accused of fatally stabbing his friend Preijanthan Chandrababu, 25, and Chandrababu Thambu, 56, in the early morning hours of July 10, 2017.

Wilson found he could not rule on who did the stabbing.

The night of the killings, Srianandan attended a party in Airdrie with four members of the victims' family; Chandrababu, his twin brother and his parents.

The five returned to the family's home just after midnight and everyone went to bed except for Srianandan and Chandrababu. 

Navarathy Chandrababu testified that she got up in the middle of the night when she heard a noise, looked downstairs and saw Srianandan standing at the foot of the stairs holding knives.

She woke up her husband, who went downstairs to investigate while she called 911.

Navarathy's son, the victim's twin, also went downstairs.

Moments later Navarathy saw her son lying at the bottom of the stairs. He'd suffered 18 knife wounds. 

Chandrababu Thambu had also suffered a number of injuries. Both men died.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Meghan Grant

CBC Calgary crime reporter

Meghan Grant is CBC Calgary's justice affairs reporter. She has been covering courts, crime and stories of police accountability in southern Alberta for more than a decade. Send Meghan a story tip at meghan.grant@cbc.ca or follow her on Twitter.

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