SALEM: A shocking case of murder and robbery has been reported from Vembadithalam, in Salem, where an 85-year-old woman was brutally killed for her gold ornaments.
The victim, Mariammal, was residing with her son Dhanapal (58), a railway employee. They lived together in the Indira Nagar Railway Workers Quarters.
According to the police, Mariammal, who usually slept outside during the night, had done so on Saturday as well. When Dhanapal returned home early the next morning after completing his night duty, he found his mother lying dead on the cot in a pool of blood. Her gold ornaments were missing.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Mariammal had first been attacked with a wooden stick, and only after that did the assailants cut her ear to remove the gold earrings that could not be removed easily. They also took away her nose stud. In total, around three-fourths of a sovereign of gold jewellery was stolen.
Following a complaint from Dhanapal, the Kondalampatti Police registered a case of murder and robbery. Police sent Mariammal's body to the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital for postmortem. Fingerprint experts were called in to gather forensic clues from the spot.
Salem City Police Commissioner Anil Kumar Giri has formed a special team to trace and apprehend the culprits.
