THANJAVUR: A Siddha ‘practitioner’ here, who was arrested in connection with a 27-year-old’s murder case last week, has confessed to having killed the youth by overdosing him on a herbal concoction for spurning his sexual advances, the police said. He also confessed to having killed another youth who went missing in 2021, they added.
T Kesavamurthy (47) was arrested on November 19 for allegedly murdering P Ashok Rajan, a car driver, who went missing after Deepavali. Following an inquiry, police exhumed the victim’s body parts from the backyard of Kesavamurthy’s house in Cholapuram the same day.
During interrogation, Kesavamurthy confessed to having given Rajan doses of an herbal formulation, which is an intoxicant as well as an aphrodisiac, and having a physical relationship with him. When Rajan revealed his plans to marry a woman, a furious Kesavamurthy hatched a plan to murder him, the police said.
On November 13, Kesavamurthy overdosed Rajan on the concoction and killed him. He then chopped the body into pieces and buried it in his house's backyard. Following this, a case of murder was registered against Kesavamurthy and Rajan’s body was exhumed.
Further, the accused also confessed to having killed and buried another youth, identified as T Mohammed Anas, in 2021 in a similar manner. Save for the jaw bone which was also buried on the premises of Kesavamurthy’s house, this other victim’s body was disposed of in a burial ground, the police added. The jaw bone was recovered last week. Kesavamurthy also produced a silver chain which he said belonged to Anas, the police added. The recovered bone has been sent for forensic analysis.