CHENNAI: A 40-year-old woman and her 10-year-old son were found brutally murdered in their house near the busy Tiruttani-Arakkonam high road on Sunday night. A total of 21 sovereign of gold jewellery were found missing.
According to the police, D Vana Perumal (45), working as a security guard in a private tyre company at Ichiputhur 12 km from his house, was living with his wife Veeralakshmi (40) and son Pothiraj (10), a class 5 in a private school nearby. His 22-year-old daughter was married and lives with her husband in Chennai.
They were living at Balaji Street at Perumal Thangal Pudur (PT Pudur) in Tiruttani. The house was located a few metres from the Tiruttani-Arakkonam main road. “Vana Perumal left home at 8 pm for night duty and returned home around 7 am on Monday. He found the door open and there was no response when he called his wife,” said a police officer.
He went inside the single bedroom house only to find his wife lying in a pool of blood with a head injury, probably hit by an iron rod or stabbed with a knife, said the police personnel who went to the spot.
“His son Pothiraj was found with an iron box wire around his neck. Vana Perumal cried for help and the neighbours came to the scene. The duo were rushed to the Tiruttani GH, where they were declared brought dead. While checking the house, Perumal found cupboard was broken and around 21-sovereign jewels missing,” said a police officer.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police (Tiruttani), Sekar, and SP Ponni reached the spot and three special teams were formed to nab the suspects.Speaking to Express, a neighbour said, “Veeralakshmi was bedridden for almost five years after she was diagnosed with elephantiasis. She used to come out of the house very rarely. Her daughter got married just a few months ago and it is her son-in-law who was taking care of the boy.” He also added that they did not hear noises, mostly because it was midnight and everyone was asleep.
Police said that the sniff dog ran a few metres from the house on the main road and stopped. “We suspect that the men should have escaped on bikes but we are not sure how many broke into the house. We have alerted nearby districts and Andhra Pradesh,” said a senior police officer.