VELLORE: Srinivasan, a twenty-two-year-old youth of Ranipet, and his friend have been arrested for murdering his father-in-law.
Srinivasan alleged that his father-in-law separated his wife, who is pregnant, from him and aborted their child. Ranipet police have also launched a search for Srinivasan’s 19-year-old brother, in connection with the murder. Srinivasan, who was working in a leather factory, along with his brother Velmurugan and friend Soundarapandian, mowed down Siva (50) of K K Nagar of Ranipet and made it seem like a hit and run case, eluding arrest for nearly a month now. However, their luck ran out when police nabbed Soundarapandian on suspicion. Soundarapandian spilled the beans during interrogation, and confessed to having been a partner in the crime. Siva had sustained serious injuries in a hit-and-run accident involving an unidentified vehicle on April 17 this year. He died in a private hospital in Vellore on Wednesday.
Info from locals about a lorry stationed near Soundarapandian’s house three days prior to the accident helped police crack the case. “The two brothers and their friend murdered Siva and tried to evade arrest by making it look like a hit-and-run accident. Srinivasan masterminded the murder to take revenge against his father-in-law for separating his wife from him and aborting their child,” Inspector of Police and investigating officer (IO) of the case M Nagarajan said.
Srinivasan and Siva’s daughter, Jamuna, now 20, eloped in February last year and got married. They were living in Srinivasan’s house, which is just few houses away from the deceased house. Siva had convinced Jamuna to leave Srinivasan and took her to their house three months ago. He had allegedly convinced Jamuna, who was pregnant then, to abort the child, police said.
Infuriated over this,the trio planned to eliminate Siva.