Police suspect the murder of the elderly woman was pre-planned
CHENNAI: Police officials investigating the murder of the senior citizen who was found dead in her house in T Nagar here on Monday suspect that the killing was a pre-planned one.
Though they are examining footage from CCTV cameras installed at houses along the street, the three cameras facing Shanthi’s house were blocked by two JCB earth movers parked nearby during the weekend. The vehicles were being used to lay a stormwater pipe, work for which has been on for almost two months.
“Early on Monday, the milkman noticed that the milk packets he delivered the previous day were still in the compound; he also noticed a foul smell and alerted the woman’s relatives,” said Thangarajan, a security guard at the adjacent building, adding that he last saw Shanthi on Saturday night, when she had a fight with the staff of a nearby fitness centre who were bursting crackers. “As the staff were celebrating Deepavali, I spotted three men — one of them had a backpack. The next morning, I spotted the same men standing in front of her house and when they noticed me, they moved to the adjacent street,” the guard pointed out.
One of the victim’s friends, Vijayalakshmi, said she advised Shanthi to shift to a hostel as she was ill. “But she said that her life would change from November,” Vijayalakshmi added. Shanthi’s relatives and neighbours claimed that she never allowed anybody to enter her house.
Shanthi’s neighbours and relatives said she never allowed anybody enter her house. However, one of her relatives, Ramesh, told the police that 60 sovereigns of gold were stolen from her house and added that she was murdered for her wealth. He said the last time he spoke to Shanthi was over the phone on Saturday evening.
Chennai has witnessed several such instances in which miscreants have made victims out of elderly people living alone. In some cases, the perpetrators were found to be close relatives or acquaintances of the victims.