PUDUKKOTTAI: News of a cold-blooded murder sent shivers down the spine of residents of Pudukkottai town on Sunday. A 23-year-old youth killed his widowed mother following a property dispute and carried the decapitated head to the police station to surrender. According to police, after the death of her husband Rani (50) lived with her three sons and a daughter at Maravanpatti near Mazhaiyur.
The siblings, it is said, used to quarrel with her frequently over sharing the ancestral property. Recently, one of her sons, Anand, reportedly took money from a realtor as advance after assuring him to sell the property. But this was opposed by Rani and she asked him to return the money that he had taken as advance immediately.
On Sunday, Anand picked up quarrel with his mother over the same issue as she was getting ready to attend a prayer in a church in the town. Anand kept insisting her to accept the deal, but she refused to do so. In a fit of rage, Anand attacked Rani with a sickle, killing her on the spot.
He severed the head and drove with it to the police station to surrender. Police retrieved the body of Rani and sent it to the Pudukkottai Medical College Hospital for postmortem. As news about the murder spread, the shell-shocked villagers and her relatives rushed to the scene.
According to the police, Rani and her husband were history-sheeters and used to sell illicit liquor. “Rani was arrested for allegedly murdering her husband Thangaraj in 2007. But, she was acquitted due to lack of evidence,” sources added.
Not the first one in family: Rani had allegedly killed her husband in 2007, but was let go due to a lack of evidence.