Gang kills elderly couple in Salem over property dispute

Police said the deceased couple, Gurusamy (70), and his wife Thanga (65), were sleeping in the verandah of the house along with their grand-daughter Sangeetha, 21, when unidentified persons attacked them with deadly weapons. While the elderly couple died on the spot, a critically injured Sangeetha is battling for life in Salem Government Hospital. 

Police said Sangeetha’s brother Sasikumar (20), was diagnosed with dengue and was admitted to a private hospital for treatment on Tuesday evening. Her parents, Marimuthu and Muthumani were in the hospital along with him. 

As Sangeetha, a student of a college in Sankari taluq, was left alone, her grandparents came to stay with her and another brother Rajasekar. They all had slept in cots laid out on the verandah of the house. 

In the middle of night, Rajsekar felt too cold and had gone inside the house to sleep. He heard loud knocks on the door in the early hours of Wednesday. When he opened the door, he was horrified to see his sister with gruesome cut injuries all over the body.

He immediately called the 108 ambulance. By then, the Kolathur police also reached the spot and rushed the girl to Mettur GH and later to Salem GH. After preliminary enquiries, police found that the murder could have been done due to some property dispute. 

The Kolathur police have also registered a case and special teams of police are on the lookout for the culprits. The gruesome murder has sent shock waves in the rather quiet neighbourhood.