CHENNAI: The city police arrested a man on Monday morning for the murder of an elderly woman in Adambakkam on Friday. They recovered 45 sovereigns of gold jewellery from him. The arrested accused was identified as S Sakthivel. Police said on Friday, Sakthivel had posed as a sales representative and knocked on the doors of Sivagami Sundari, the victim, and asked for drinking water.
“The elderly woman was alone at the time. Sakthivel followed her and allegedly strangled and assaulted her when she entered the kitchen. Sakthivel used an umbrella to hide his face from the CCTV cameras,” said a police officer. Police said he escaped with 45 sovereigns of gold jewellery and Rs 2.5 lakh in cash.
Sakthivel did odd jobs and often was engaged in electrical jobs and carpentry works, said the police. “We formed eight teams to nab the accused. We sifted through the CCTV footage and found out he took an elaborate route to escape capture. He first went to Triplicane and took two different autorickshaws to reach M G R Nagar,” said Frank D Ruban, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madipakkam.
When Adambakkam police contacted M G R Nagar police, they recollected a similar incident from October 29, 2021, when a man with an umbrella had killed an elderly woman and robbed her. The victim, Seethalakshmi Gurumoorthy, was residing alone in Bharathidasan Nagar in M G R Nagar. When her children tried contacting her, they could not reach her.
They requested a neighbour to check in on her, who found Seethalakshmi dead and things lying scattered on the floor. After a check, it came to light that 16 sovereigns of gold jewellery were stolen, said a police officer. MGR Nagar police tried to identify the culprit with help of the CCTV images, but could not do so at the time.
After his arrest on Monday, Sakthivel confessed to killing Seethalakshmi also, said the police. For about 18 months, Sakthivel laid low and since he did not have a steady income, he killed Sivagami Sundari and stole the valuables, said the police. A probe is on.