CHENNAI: In a case of murder for gain, a 71-year-old woman was strangled to death allegedly by a 20-year-old man who escaped with three-sovereigns of gold jewellery that she was wearing. The woman’s body was staged to make it appear like a suicide, the police said. SRMC police suspect her tenant who lived next door and have launched a hunt for him.
According to the police, the deceased woman, V Gandhimathi, had been living alone in a portion of her house since her husband’s death a few years ago. Her son was living in the adjacent portion with his family, while her daughter was living in Tirunelveli.
On Tuesday night, Gandhimathi’s son grew worried since his mother had not come out of her house for a long time. When he checked, he found her dead in one of the rooms in a way that indicated a death by suicide, the police said. The police recovered the body and sent it for postmortem. Gandhimathi’s family also complained that the gold jewellery weighing three sovereigns were missing, the police said.
Preliminary checks at the hospital showed injuries to the neck and it was found that Gandhimathi was strangled to death.
The police launched an investigation which led them to the son of the Gandhimathi’s tenant who lived next door. During questioning, the 20-year-old man allegedly gave contradictory replies and later went absconding. A search is on to nab him, the police said.