CHENNAI:A group of four college students allegedly murdered their roommate over an unkept promise of securing them iPhones at a cheap rate. The gruesome incident came to light on Thursday after neighbours and the house-owner complained of foul smell emanating from the apartment that the quintet shared in Mehta Nagar.
Police broke open the door at around 7 am to find the decomposed body of K Syed Saddam (21), working in a private company in T Nagar, dumped inside the bathroom of the apartment. The victim’s limbs were tied with chains while the skull had suffered injuries indicating a blow received on the head.
One of the four students, D Sakthivel (25) of Walajapet in Vellore was nabbed by a special team from his hideout, while a hunt is on for Steve, Vinod and Prakash, all of whom hail from Dharmapuri and Arcot. All are engineering students studying at a private college in Nungambakkam.
According to police, Sakthivel and Saddam were childhood friends and when the latter came over to Chennai for work, Sakthivel introduced him to his roommates, who also agreed to Saddam moving in with them.
Saddam told his roomies that he had connections with Customs department and that he would be able to procure at low cost i-Phones and other expensive smartphones which were seized at the airport and Chennai port.
Trusting him, the four handed over nearly Rs 2 lakh. But Saddam could not procure the gadgets as promised. Aggrieved, Sakthivel lodged a complaint with Nungambakkam police station a few months back. Subsequently, Saddam returned Rs 90,000 to the students and promised that he would pay the remaining in due time.
But, since he failed to return the sum as promised, the students hatched a plot and invited Saddam over to their house for a round of peace talks. Once at the house, the students attacked their roommate on the head and killed him. A case was registered at Aminjikarai police station.