Chennai double murder: 1000 sovereign gold jewellery, 50 kgs worth silver articles recovered

CHENNAI:  A day after the sensational double murder in Mylapore, the city police recovered 1,000 sovereigns of jewellery, 50 kg of silver articles, two mobile phones, and a four-wheeler, together worth Rs 5 crore, from the accused -- Padamlal Krishna (45) of Nepal and Ravi Rai (39) of West Bengal.

Addressing the media on Sunday, N Kannan, Additional Commissioner of Police (South), Chennai, said the accused had planned the murders and even dug up pits to bury the bodies of Srikanth (60) and Anuradha (55), at their farmhouse in Nemilichery near Mamallapuram. On Sunday evening, the bodies were exhumed in the presence of revenue officials and sent to Government Chengalpattu Hospital for postmortem examination.

The accused were arrested near Ongole on Saturday night with the help of AP Police and brought to Chennai. During questioning, Krishna said he was the son of a security guard at the farmhouse. His father has been working for the family for more than two decades. Krishna, who was a driver, acted as Srikanth’s driver whenever needed.

On Saturday morning, Srikanth and Anuradha returned to Chennai after visiting their son Shashwanth and daughter Sunandha in the USA. After landing in Chennai, they informed their son that Krishna had come to pick them up. After some time, when Shashwanth tried to reach his father’s mobile, it was switched off. He then called Krishna, who informed him that his parents had reached home and were resting.

Unable to reach his parents, Shaswanth called Krishna again. This time, Krishna gave him evasive answers and a suspicious Shaswanth called a relative and told him to check on his parents. A strong disinfectant smell welcomed the relative and he realised that there was no one in the house and that it had been ransacked. He immediately lodged a complaint with Mylapore police against Krishna.

When the police found that the car driver and the car missing, they started tracking the vehicle using GPS and found that the car was going towards Vijayawada on NH-16. They contacted Prakasam SP Malika Garg, leading to the arrests.

Talking to media persons, the ACP said Krishna allegedly overheard Srikanth talking about a property sale worth Rs 40 crore recently. He then began hatching a plan to steal the money. Since he did not have the locker key, Krishna had to wait for the couple’s return.

Krishna, who had been given a room at the house in Mylapore, allegedly killed the couple and escaped in the couple’s car with the jewellery and silver articles, with the help of his friend Ravi. ACP Kannan further said Krishna was expecting to find Rs 40 crore in the locker, but instead found valuables worth Rs 5 crore. The duo also stole the hard disk that had the CCTV footage of the incident. They buried the bodies at the farmhouse and fled in the car.