Nearly seven months after a 52-year-old man died in his ancestral house in Pillayarkoil Street in Vellore’s Velapadi, his body was found by relatives on Sunday evening.
Sivaraman, a money lender and pawn broker, lived alone for the past one-and-half years, after his wife Sumathi and their two sons -- Chandrakanth (17) and Vignesh (15) -- left him following a family dispute. He was last seen by his relatives on September 16 last year, when he had attended the funeral of his relative Karunakaran’s wife Parimala.
However, on September 30, when the family had gathered at Karunakaran’s house for a ritual, the neighbours told Sivaraman’s brothers that they had not seen him for the last few days and the house had remained locked. However, his brothers and relatives assumed that Sivaraman, who often went on pilgrimages, might have gone on one such trip, DSP of Vellore S Dakshinamoorthy said. As Sivaraman was not seen even six to seven months after the family event, Sumathi and her in-laws decided to open the house. The house was opened around 4 pm on Sunday, after special pujas. On entering, they found the highly decomposed body of Sivaraman lying on the floor, the DSP added. Sivaraman’s family informed the Vellore south police about the incident. Police rushed to the spot and sent it to GH for autopsy. “The cash bags in the bureau were undisturbed. Items that had been mortgaged by customers were also in the house,” the DSP said.
He said there were no windows in the room, which could be the reason the foul smell would have been prevented from emanating. “The main door was open all along, but a collapsible door that led to the house was locked. His family had broken open the collapsible door, as it was locked from the inside,” the police officer said.
“The body was decomposed,” said additional director of the Forensic Wing K Pari. Inspector of Police (crime) Saravanan, the investigation officer, registered a case of suspicious death.