CHENNAI: First suicide, then murder for insurance gain; now yet another twist has rocked the case of 38-year-old Ernavoor man’s death as the DNA analysis of his body has revealed that the body was that of a female. Suspecting a goof-up in the analysis, the police have formed a team to reanalyse the DNA findings of the deceased.
The murder took place in Allanoor village near Acharapakkam on September 15. Suresh, who was later arrested, had along with his friends hatched a plan to kill Dilibabu (38) from Ernavoor, and stage it as Suresh’s death in order to claim Rs 1 crore life insurance money.
“Suresh, Hari Krishnan and Keerthi Rajan took Dilibabu to a hut belonging to Suresh for a booze session. After a while, the gang strangled the 38-year-old to death and set the hut on fire. Since the land belonged to Suresh, his family was alerted by police and his sister identified the charred body to be that of Suresh’s,” sources said. However, the insurance company refused to release the claim amount as the death was registered as a case of suicide.
Meanwhile, Dilibabu’s mother lodged a police complaint stating that her son was missing. As no action ensued, she filed a habeas corpus petition at the Madras High Court. Following the court’s order, the police commenced inquiries which later led them to realise that Suresh was alive. He was soon arrested and he allegedly confessed to killing Dilibabu.
Commenting on the claim that the body belonged to a female, a senior police officer told TNIE, “This has come as a shock to us. DNA samples of Dilibabu’s mother and sister were also submitted for tests. We have to check whether the samples got mixed during the test.” Even the postmortem report last year had maintained that the body belonged to a male. Another officer who is part of the probe team said there was a 90% chance that the findings of viscera sample’s DNA profile analysis could be incorrect.