Man arrested for killing friend’s mother

CHENNAI: A 36-year-old man was arrested by the Mappedu police in Tiruvallur district for the alleged murder of his friend’s mother, an 85-year-old woman, after stealing her gold nose ring.

The deceased was identified as M Lakshmi (85), a widow. She was living alone in Pudhupattu village near Upparapalayam in Tiruvallur district. One of her sons, M Bangaru (56) lives in another house nearby.

Bangaru works as a mason and the accused, Ashok Kumar, got acquainted with Bangaru’s brother, Murugan at the construction site. Police said that Ashok Kumar used to visit Murugan often for drinks and used to stay over at his mother’s house.

On Sunday morning, around 8 am, a relative had asked Bangaru about the whereabouts of his mother as she was not to be seen for a long time. Bangaru went to check on his mother and shouted from outside. Since she did not come outside, he went in and found her lying unconscious.

She was rushed to a hospital where she was declared brought dead. Police enquiry revealed that Lakshmi’s nose ring, which is less than a sovereign, was missing after which police rounded up the suspects. On Monday, the police arrested Ashok Kumar, who confessed to the killing and the theft. He told the police that he had tried to steal the nose ring when the woman was sleeping and when the woman tried to raise an alarm, he strangled her.