THENI: A man's long search to find his daughter has, in the end, brought to light a story of tears, lust for money and cold-blooded murder. The police arrested an army man, who is under suspension now, his mother and brother for murdering the woman and disposing her body one-and-half years ago.
Sources said that the issues between the woman, Girija Pandi from Usilampatti, and Eswaran, the army man, residing in Forest Road 12th Street, cropped up soon after their marriage in 2018. They claimed that even the family members of the man started torturing Girija, demanding more dowry and the woman had, allegedly, lodged a complaint in this regard at All Women Police Station, Usilampatti. Since there is a pending case against Eswaran, he was suspended from the army, pending inquiry.
After this incident, the police managed to broker a deal between the couple and they continued living together. According to the deal put forward by Eswaran, sources said, Girija should not contact her parents or relatives and the woman had accepted it. "Even Girija's father, Selvam, did not try to contact his daughter afterwards as he did not want to land the woman in trouble," they said.
In between, Selvam chanced to visit Eswaran's father, Sivakumar, who is living separately, when he was taken ill and was admitted to a hospital and learnt that his daughter was still having a troubled life. Hearing this, Selvam started searching for his daughter.
As Selvam was unable to locatec Eswaran's house, he lodged a complaint with the city police recently. Based on the complaint, police arrested Eswaran from Thiruchengodu in Nammakal district.
During questioning, Selvan confessed to the police that he had killed Girija by pushing her to the ground following a quarrel on December 25, 2019. He allegedly told the police that with the help of his mother, Selvi, and brother, Chinna Eswaran, who is working at the police department now, he had stuffed the body in a gunny bag and had thrown it into Mullai Periyar river near Aranmanaipudur.
Police said that the three used to keep changing the locality they stay often, "In the last three years, they shifted 12 houses," they said. Though Eswaran and his brother had shown the spot where they disposed the body, the search ended in vain.
The three were produced before K Ramesh, Judicial Magistrate, Additional Mahila Court, Theni, The two brothers were sent to the prison in Virudhunagar and their mother was sent to the prison in Nillakottai.