8 kg of gold, diamond jewels recovered

CHENNAI: After cracking the double murder case reported in Mylapore within six hours and arresting the suspects near Ongole in Andhra Pradesh, the city police on Sunday informed that they have seized about eight kg of gold and diamond jewels worth over Rs 5 crore, silver articles and the car of the victims in which the suspects fled.

Police after interrogating the suspects — Krishna (45) of Nepal and his friend Ravi (39) of West Bengal — said Krishna’s (acting driver of the deceased Srikanth and Anuradha) actual target was Rs 40 crore which Srikanth, an auditor by profession, reportedly received a few months ago after selling a property. “Krishna did not know that the cash was not at home, but he did not expect that he would get so much gold instead,” said Additional Commissioner (South) N Kannan.

The official said the accused planned to reach Nepal as quickly as possible so that they cannot be arrested, but the police nabbed them before they crossed Andhra Pradesh. “Tangatur police were very cooperative and helped arrest the suspect,” said the official.

According to officials, the double murder is premeditated and Krishna must have planned it for over a month. “The entire house is under CCTV surveillance and can be viewed by the couple and their son and daughter on their phone from the US and there is an alarm system in place to alert them if there is an unauthorised entry. That should be the reason for Krishna to wait for the couple to return to the city to carry out the gruesome murder for gain,” said Deputy Commissioner (Mylapore) Disha Mittal.

According to the official, most of the valuables were in the house, while the couple too carried some jewels from the US. After inquiring about the duo, police said they beat the couple with wooden logs after gaining entry into the house and slit their throat with a hacksaw blade. “They took all the valuables and dumped them in three bags brought by the couple from the US before wrapping

the couple in the bedsheets and keeping them in the back seats of the car. The duo dug the pit, which is six feet deep, in the farmhouse three days ago and buried the couple in the same pit,” said police.