CHENNAI: A 70-year-old woman living alone was found dead with her throat slit at her house in Nallathur village near Thirukazhukundram in Chengalpattu on Monday night.
The Sadras police said K Kanniyammal, the deceased, ran a small idli shop in the area. Her husband, a retired employee of the atomic power station in Kalpakkam, died 10 years ago and their five children live separately.
Kanniyammal went back home for lunch from her shop in the afternoon but did not return, police said.
Alarmed after all their calls going unanswered, some of her neighbours, who alerted both her children and the police, went to check on her but found her house locked from outside. They soon found her dead with her throat slit, police said.
“We sent the body for postmortem. We suspect it to be a murder for gain,” said a senior police officer.
Her family claimed a gold chain and a pair of earrings she were wearing, weighing 1.75 sovereigns, are missing.