Man murders neighbour, robs gold to buy birthday gift for wife
A 23-year-old man, who murdered and packed his former colleague’s body in a gunny bag which he dumped amid garbage in Koyambedu, was arrested by the City Police on Wednesday after he confessed to the murder following sustained interrogation. Police said he strangulated the 19-year-old victim to rob her jewels, pledging which he bought a gold ring as gift for his wife.
By : migrator
Update: 2018-04-18 20:24 GMT
Chennai
The victim R Velvizhi, hailing from a poor family in Vriddhachalam, was working as a caretaker for a manpower agency in Virugambakkam and stayed at a house in Veerapandi Nagar in Choolaimedu.
About 20 women colleagues were staying in the building, including her colleague Mahalakshmi and her husband Ajitkumar. He too was a staff at the company till last month, working as driver to pick up and drop the caretakers from clients’ houses.
Velvizhiwent missing on April 6, the day her father Rajendran spoke to over phone for the last time. Three days later, after his efforts to trace her proved futile, he filed a complaint at Choolaimedu police station. When police questioned Ajithkumar, he claimed to have overheard Velvizhi speaking to someone over phone on April 6 that she was ready to go with him.
“He said when he returned after a while, Velvizhi was not found in her room,” said an officer. However, police had suspicion on Ajithkumar, the only male living in the building. After quitting the agency, he told others that he obtained a job at an optical shop in Guindy.
When he returned from Kerala on Wednesday, police asked him about his new workplace. He was taken to Guindy to locate the shop, and then to the station for further questioning, during which he spilled the beans, police said.
Finally, after his claims fell through one after the other, Ajithkumar confessed to the murder and said the body was dumped in Koyambedu. Police then took him to the spot and retrieved the decomposed body, which was sent to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Police said that Ajithkumar and Mahalakshmi married after falling in love, and moved to Chennai from Palakkad, Kerala, three months ago. After quitting the manpower agency job, he claimed to have landed the next job and managed to give money to her claiming it to be his salary. But he could not do the same in April. Also, Mahalakshmi’s birthday fell on April 9, and she began asking about the salary to celebrate it.
On April 6, when Mahalakshmi and Velvizhi’s roommate were away at work, Ajithkumar approached Velvizhi around 10 am and asked her gold chain, promising to return it within two months.
When she refused, he grew infuriated and strangulated Velvizhiwith her shawl to death. He took her ear ring and ring, together weighing six grams, and put her body in a sack. He first brought the body to his house before her roommate returned at 1.30 pm.
Later in the night, he ferried the bag to Koyambedu in an auto-rickshaw and kept it in a cable spool near the market. Though it remained there for 12 days, the passers-by failed to notice the stench, as the area is frequented by the garbage trucks, said police.
He exchanged the jewels for a three-gram ring from a jewellery shop near Arumbakkam and gifted it to Mahalakshmi on her birthday. However, he fell ill the very next day, and Mahalakshmi had to pledge the ring. Police have recovered both the jewels.
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