Criminals taking a cue from crime thrillers is passé. For a change, police in Tamil Nadu picked up leads from a TV reality show and dug out skeletons of a young couple and a man from a house in Villupuram district on Tuesday, nearly four years after they were poisoned.
It is not just the investigation into the case that was accidental. Even a teenaged girl who blew the whistle about the murders committed by her father on a prime time show had learned about the crime, quite per chance. The victims belonged to Nallampillaipetral in Gingee.
According to police, Bargavi (17) was allegedly threatened by her father Murugan when he came to know about her love affair. “The girl had complained to her mother Rajeshwari who blurted out that Murugan had in the past poisoned a lover couple Silambarasan (22) and Lavanya (20) and the latter’s father Sekar (45) and buried them in a house in his village M Kuchipalayam. On May 28, Bargavi revealed about the murders while participating in a TV reality show,” DIG (Villupuram Range) K Shanmugavel told Express.
Immediately after the show was broadcast, ADGP (L&O) S George, ordered a probe into the case. Sekar’s wife Jeeva, who heard about the TV show, also lodged a police complaint.
On questioning the girl and Jeeva, police learnt that the inter-caste couple of Nallampillaipetral had run away and taken refuge at M Kuchipalayam. Lavanya’s father Sekar was an old acquaintance of Murugan.
“It appears that Sekar had approached Murugan to take back his daughter. A misunderstanding over Lavanya’s missing jewels had led to a squabble between them. Subsequently, the couple and Sekar were allegedly administered poison mixed in food and their bodies were buried in 2008. We are still not clear about the motive,” Shanmugavel said. Fearing police action, Murugan and Rajeshwari have fled the village. “Police teams are hunting for them,” he added.