The Villupuram district police on Thursday held a sofa maker, A Murugan (38), and his wife in connection with the brutal murder of a newly-married couple and the bride’s father four years ago.
Preliminary inquiries into the case revealed that Murugan had murdered the trio to steal the valuables they had in their possession.
The triple murder came to light in a reality show telecast on a satellite channel on May 28, where Murugan’s daughter Bhargavi revealed that her father killed Lavanya (20), her husband Silambarasan (22) and Lavanya’s father Sekar in 2008 and buried them adjacent to their house. Based on a complaint lodged by Sekar’s wife Jeeva, the Villupuram police dug up the front portion of Murugan’s house on the outskirts of Maharajapuram Kuchipalayam village and a 10-foot-deep abandoned well on June 5. They exhumed the skeletons of three persons - two from the well and one from near a water tap.
The police on Thursday nabbed Murugan, who had been absconding for two days after the show was aired. They also held Rajeswari for inquiry. A police personnel from the investigation team said that Rajeswari, during interrogation, revealed that her husband had poisoned Lavanya and Silambarasan, who took asylum in their house after they eloped and got married. He then buried their bodies in the abandoned well. He poisoned Lavanya’s father Sekar when he came in search of his daughter and son-in-law. Sekar’s body was buried adjacent to a water tap in front of their house. The three were murdered in December 2008, said the police quoting Rajeswari’s confession statement. “The motive behind the murder was the jewels and cash which were in the possession of Lavanya and Silambarasan,” said the police officer. A senior police officer said the postmortem will be delayed till Sunday.
“After obtaining the court’s nod, we will send the samples of the exhumed skeletons for a DNA test. We will produce Jeeva, Lavanya’s mother and Silambarasan’s mother Poongavanam for the test.”