The quintet arrested in connection with the murder of a 57-year-old bank employee in the posh Velachery area of the city on Tuesday last, had resorted to the act in a desperate bid to get rid of the years of sexual abuse they had been subjected to by the deceased.
N Nagaraj, an assistant manager with the Tamil Nadu Apex Co-operative Bank, was found dead in his duplex apartment at Venus Nagar in Velachery by his elderly mother on Wednesday morning. For the police, the needle of suspicion immediately fell on those with whom he was boozing the previous night at his house.
Now, it has emerged that the murder was neither the result of a drunken brawl nor one of gain.
Investigations revealed the darker side of Nagaraj’s character, which even his family members were unaware of.
“He was earlier posted at a branch in Royapuram when he befriended several boys in the locality. He used to give them money liberally or sponsor them liquor. Over a period of time, he would seduce the youngsters and make them do sexual acts. These five boys were also among the dozen of youngsters exploited by him,” said a police source.
Even after shifting to Velachery, Nagaraj is said to have coerced the five youth to booze with him and sexually exploited them. “The boys were frustrated as he forced them to visit him often. At one point, they refused to oblige. But Nagaraj blackmailed them that he would inform their parents about their activities of the past few years. So, to put an end to this, the five had planned to kill Nagaraj,” said Inspector V Muthuraja.
On Tuesday night, the five had visited Nagaraj and started boozing as usual. “Nagaraj had, as usual, called one of the boys to indulge in a sexual act with him. As he was highly inebriated, all the five together overpowered him and suffocated him to death with bare hands. However, suspecting he was still alive, the boys had used a belt and strangulated him,” the Inspector said.
Soon after commiting the murder, they tried to create an impression that burglars had committed the crime, by disarraying the cupboards and spraying chilly power on the floor.
Four days after the murder, the Velachery police traced and arrested Gowtham (21) and three other juveniles. One more juvenile involved in the case is still at large and police are on the look out for him.
While Gowtham was working in a multi-national brand showroom, the three juveniles were diploma students. One of the juvenile offenders is a Class XII student. With the arrests, the city police claimed to have solved the case.