TIRUPPUR: In a gruesome incident, an elderly man was burnt alive in a van in Perumanallur allegedly for the insurance money on Thursday night. The man's wife and a relative have been booked on murder charges.
According to police, Rangaraj (62), a powerloom owner and real estate agent from Perundurai in Erode, was murdered by his wife Jothimani (55) and a relative Raja (41) so that the duo could access the payout from insurance policies, that Rangaraj had purchased, worth a few crores of rupees.
Police said that Rangaraj had sustained a fracture in an accident two weeks ago. He was admitted in a private hospital and discharged on Thursday night. Jothimani and Raja were bringing him back to Perundurai in a van.
Raja, who was driving the vehicle stopped the vehicle at Valasupalayam to attend to nature's call. Jothimani also got out of the vehicle at the time. Later, smoke started coming from the vehicle and the duo reportedly claimed to have found the van on fire and informed the police about the incident. Rangaraj, who was unable to get out on his own, was burned alive, police said.
However, while investigating the case, police said they found that Rangaraj had built a house with home loans worth Rs 45 lakh. He had also taken a loan of Rs 1.5 crore to run his powerloom business. But, he was unable to repay the loans and the lenders had reportedly warned Rangaraj and Jothimani.
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According to police, Jothimani and Raja conspired to murder Rangaraj and settle the loans with the insurance money. As part of this plan, Raja stopped the van at Valasupalayam near Perumanallur at around 11 pm on Thursday after which Raja and Jothimani got out of the car. Police alleged that Raja doused the car with petrol, which he had bought at a fuel station, and set fire to the vehicle, burning Rangaraj alive.
Jothimani allegedly paid Rs 50,000 to Raja to help commit the murder. Perumanallur police registered a case against the duo under Section 302 of the IPC 302 and they were remanded in judicial custody.