NAGAPATTINAM: Eight years after two women were robbed and murdered in their Sirkazhi home, the CBCID claims to have cracked the case. What more: It has now emerged that the gang had attacked and killed two more women in similar fashion, one in Erode and other in Puducherry. While three suspects have been arrested, a fourth member of the gang is absconding. The Sirkazhi murders happened in 2011. Sameera Banu (20) and her grandmother Hadija Bivi (60) were beaten to death, allegedly by this four-member gang that later robbed the house. Sameera’s father Mohamed Younus (55) was an entrepreneur in Kuwait. Sameera’s mother Rabia Bivi, brother Mohamed Nasser, and grandmother Hadjia Bivi were living in the house in Eesaniya Theru.
On August 21, 2011, Naseer found his sister and grandmother murdered inside their house. As the police could not find a breakthrough in the case till 2015, it was handed over to the Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department (CBCID). A team under Inspector M Saravanan had been investigating the case for the last four years.
Last week, the CBCIB team claimed to have arrested three of the suspects in the case -- S Suresh Kumar (27), S Dinesh (32), and R Kamal (30). “On that fateful night, the gang first attacked Pandiammal, an elderly woman living in a hut next to Younus’s house,” says official sources. Younus was working in Kuwait at that time.
The family was watching TV when they heard the woman cry for help. They rushed out and found her lying on the floor. Assuming she had tripped and fallen, Naseer and his mother Rabia rushed her to the hospital. “It turned out the gang had attacked the old woman just to create a distraction. Even as Nasser and his mother left for the hospital, the gang barged into their house through the back door, armed with weapons,” said sources.
While the arrested suspects went inside, Anand remained outside to keep a watch. “Sameera saw them and started screaming. When she refused to quieten down, they slit her throat. Hearing her cries, Hadija came rushing. They hit her with something and killed her too. The trio fled the spot soon, as Anand alerted them about Naseer’s arrival.”
The CBCID says this isn’t the only murder case in which the gang was involved. “They had made it a habit of targeting houses where women are alone. They are suspected to have killed a woman in 2012, in Ammapettai in Erode, and another woman in Thirumambakakm in Puducherry in 2015.” The sleuths said they connected the dots from all the murders and busted the gang.
An investigating officer said, “The group has been indulging in criminal activities since their school days in Cuddalore. They started with stealing cellphones, and then became ‘full-fledged’ criminals after meeting motorcycle thief Sathish. During their college days, they started considering the idea of assaulting and robbing women who are alone at homes.”
However, Younus is not convinced with the arrests. “The real culprits are somewhere elese, the police are trying to close the case with these arrests,” he said while addressing the press on Saturday. The suspects have been remanded to judicial custody.