70-year-old woman found murdered in Thoothukudi

MADURAI: An elderly woman was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a house at Meignanapuram of Thoothukudi district. The deceased was identified as Vasantha (70), a retired Anganwadi worker.

On information, Superintendent of Police Albert John inspected the scene of crime and held inquiries. Initially, the incident was treated as murder for stealing jewellery, as the gold chain and earrings the victim wore were found missing. Fingerprint experts examined the scene of the crime, and a sniffer dog was also used as part of the investigation.

Investigations carried out by the Meignanapuram police revealed that Selvarathi (24), a neighbour, allegedly stole chicken from the backyard of Vasantha’s house.

Irked by this, Vasantha severely reprimanded Selvarathi in public, and it caused the latter a great embarrassment. Then, in a fit of rage, Selvarathi trespassed into the house and smothered Vasantha with a pillow, sources said.

As there was no response to the phone call, the victim’s son Vikranth, who works as a head constable in Nazareth, called his relatives to check the house.

Much to their shock, the relatives who entered through the rear entrance, which had signs of a break-in, found Vasantha dead.

However, the exact cause of death would be known after the post-mortem. Based on a complaint, Meignanapuram police filed a case of murder. Later, Selvarathi was arrested, and the stolen jewels were recovered.

Selvarathi is already booked in another case of murder and is also accused in some theft cases, sources revealed.