COIMBATORE: In a macabre murder, a Dubai-based travel agent was lured to Tamil Nadu by his ex-lover and bumped off with the help of her stepdad.
T Thiyagarajan (69), stepfather of Saradha (32) are main accused in the case, is already convicted for murdering his stepdaughter’s husband in 2018 and was currently out on bail pending appeal.
The deceased has been identified as D Sigamani (47), a native of Tiruvarur district who operated a travel agency in Dubai. His family resides in his hometown in TN.
The Peelamedu police have altered the missing person case into murder after Thiyagarajan surrendered before a court in Coimbatore. Five others, including Saradha’s mother and sister, were arrested in the case on Friday.
The Peelamedu police have also sought the permission of revenue authorities to exhume Sigamani’s body which was buried by Karur police as unclaimed body 10 days ago.
Henchman assisted the accused in the crime
When she sought the money back, Sigamani allegedly harassed her, leading to the plot to eliminate him. Thiyagarajan of Thoothukudi district was living in Gandhimaa Nagar in Coimbatore for over 30 years with his partner, Gomathi, mother of Saradha. He is a life convict in a previous murder case involving Saradha’s husband, Gunavel, and had been out on bail after appealing the sentence at the Madras High Court.
According to police, Saradha returned to Coimbatore on April 20 and informed Thiyagarajan about the issue with Sigamani. On April 22, Sigamani arrived in Coimbatore, allegedly to meet Saradha. Thiyagarajan, meanwhile, enlisted the help of henchman Kutty Thangam alias Puthiyavan of Thachanallur in Tirunelveli to execute the murder.
On the night of April 24, Sigamani was served food laced with sedatives and subsequently murdered. The following morning, Thiyagarajan, with the help of Puthiyavan, transported the body in a car to K Paramathi in Karur district and dumped it in an isolated area. As the body remained unidentified, Karur police carried out postmortem procedures and buried it.
When Sigamani’s wife Priya could not contact him, she checked with his Dubai office and learned he had travelled to Coimbatore. She filed a missing complaint with the Peelamedu police on April 28. While the investigation was underway, Thiyagarajan, realising the tightening police net, surrendered before the Judicial Magistrate-II court in Coimbatore on April 30. Following his confession, police arrested him on Thursday and reclassified the case as murder. On Friday, they apprehended the other accused: Gomathi, her daughters Saradha and Neela (30), the hired killer, and another woman from Erode who assisted them in the crime.