Five-member gang kills senior citizen, loots jewels, cash

D Ramanathan (63), a resident from Kumbakonam, a wholesale cooking oil dealer, has been residing with his wife  Vijaya (59), daughter Saranya and son-in-law Govindarajan on Shanmugam street near Kumbakonam.

On Sunday, Saranya and Govindarajan had gone to Mannachanallur in Tiruchy to attend a wedding. While the senior citizen couple were watching television late in the evening, two unidentified persons entered the house claiming to hand over a wedding invitation. On seeing them, Vijaya went to reduce the volume of the TV, but one of the two asked them not to reduce the sound and continue to run the TV. Soon, three more persons entered the house.

As soon as the three entered the house, they started attacking Ramanathan and demanded the jewels and money he had kept in the house. When Ramanathan refused, the gang pulled Vijaya and locked her in a room after tying her hands backward.

Meanwhile, Ramanathan asked the gang to release his wife but the gang went on asking for the money and jewels and they even threatened to kill her if he fails to give them the jewels and the money.  Finding no other go, Ramanathan took the jewels and the money and handed over to them.

After receiving the jewels and the cash, one of the gang members took a sharp steel rod and stabbed Ramanathan’s neck claiming that he would inform it to the police. In the impact of the stab, Ramanathan fell down dead in a pool of blood and the gang escaped.

Later, Vijaya, who managed to come out of the room where she was locked, raised an alarm. On hearing the noise, the neighbours rushed to the house and found Ramanathan lying dead in a pool of blood.

On information, Thanjavur SP SS Maheswaran, along with DSP (Kumbakonam ) Jayachandran, and  other police officials rushed to the spot and held investigations. The police also brought a sniffer dog which ran up to the Gandhi Park and returned.

Subsequently, the police retrieved the body and rushed to the GH and handed over there for an autopsy. The police formed three special teams and started their investigation.

Meanwhile, the Kumbakonam traders downed shutters on Monday demanding the arrest of the culprits. They also demanded protection to the traders and arrest of the culprits and give them the highest punishment.

The police collected the CCTV footage from houses, shops and other public gathering places . Further investigations are on.