CHENNAI: In a robbery that took a fatal turn, the father of yesteryear item girl and glam actress, Vichitra, was hacked to death early on Tuesday. The incident took place at her parents’ farmhouse, just outside Chellampattidai village, near Sunguvachathiram, Tiruvallur.
Local police said, her parents, William (70) and Vasantha (65), generally stayed in their house in Velachery, but came to the farmhouse once in a while. They had arrived there on Saturday morning and had stayed over the weekend. Around 3 AM, William is said to have heard a noise from the kitchen and when he checked, found two masked men there, who had broken into the house after dismantling the kitchen window.
The cops believe that a scuffle broke out during which the old man was fatally wounded. “He suffered multiple cuts and lacerations to the neck, head and torso, resulting in his immediate death,” the local inspector said.
At this point, Vasantha entered the kitchen and tried to raise a row. The men seized her and knocked her on her head. “She had also suffered a few minor cuts, besides the bruise on her forehead,” said DSP Gajendra Kumar.
Her trauma and fear have affected her more, he added. They then removed all the gold that she was wearing—over 15 sovereigns— after which they broke open the bureau and stole Rs 10,000 and a other valuables and decamped, said police sources. It was the gardener, who arrived round 9 AM on Tuesday, who alerted the cops.
The unconscious Vasantha was rushed to a private hospital while William’s body was taken to the GH. A case was filed with the Sunguvachatiram police. A source close to the family, who visited Vichitra’s mother in the hospital, disclosed that the woman had recounted that the robbers were “younger than 25” and were “small boys” wearing handkerchiefs.
The source also said that the woman recalled one of them asking her angrily, “How can you alone live well?” in Tamil. As the family had moved from a run-down ancestral house to the posh farmhouse recently, reports suggest that the heist might have been a result of jealousy. But, DSP Gajendra Kumar said, “As of now, it looks purely like a crime for profit.”