VELLORE: Within six hours of the murder of two men reported by Melpadi Police Station in Vellore, meticulous investigation and swift action by the police, established the identity of the deceased and also led to the arrest of the murderers.
The District police established the identity of the deceased as retired Havildar Bheem Singh (61 Engineering Regiment) of Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh and his son Manoj, who also harboured aspirations of joining the Indian Army.
The retired Havildar and his son were found murdered along the Thiruvalam-Chittoor State Highway on Monday morning.
Police inquiry revealed that Mahendran (27), a sepoy attached to the same regiment, had orchestrated the double-murder and executed it with the help of two friends—P Kalidass (27) and M Raja both of Chinnakesakuppam village.
“The motive behind the premeditated murders was money,” said a police official, who was part of the investigation team. “We strongly suspected the perpetrators might be locals, who were well aware of the interior areas of the vicinity,” he added further.
The villagers of Magimandalam told the police that they saw a white TATA Sumo around 9 pm on Sunday. Police shortlisted the number of TATA Sumo vehicles in the locality and verified each vehicle. When Kalidass’s vehicle was inspected a weird odour emanated along with the smell of excessively sprayed air-freshener.
“We also found vomit in the vehicle and vomit near the mouth of the charred body of Bheem. Apart from this, we found the ex-serviceman’s diary along with his photograph in the car,” said the police official.
Following this, the police picked Kalidass and two others for interrogation. The police interrogated Kalidass, Mahendran and Raja all of whom confessed to the crime.
Mahendran told the police that Bheem had worked with him in Meerut before Bheem retired from the service six months ago. Mahendran had promised Bheem that he would help Manoj join the army.
When Mahendran came to Vellore on leave on October 3, he called Bheem asking him to come to Vellore to meet with a middleman who would help Manoj join the army. The father and son reached Vellore on Friday last and stayed in a lodge near the Chittoor bus stand. Mahendran arranged a meeting with the middleman on Saturday.
On learning that Bheem had around `5 lakh in his bank account, Mahendran planned to murder both father and son and pocket the money. During the course of his visit to Vellore, Bheem asked Mahendran to take him sight-seeing including to the Golden Temple.
“Mahendran gave poison-laced liquor to Bheem after getting his ATM’s PIN number. After he became unconscious, the trio tried to murder Manoj by injecting him with air-filled syringe. After they failed to do so three times, they drove the vehicle into an isolated place near Magimandalam and strangulated him,” said the police quoting the confession of Mahendran.
After murdering Manoj, the trio then strangulated Bheem, who was still lying unconscious. The murderers also poured petrol and set the faces on fire to disfigure the faces.