Duo held for murder of woman, 70; theft of jewellery worth 5L in Chennai

Chennai: In a case of murder for gain at Surapet, two men allegedly strangled a 70-year-old woman at her house after tying her hands and legs, and escaped with four sovereigns of jewellery worth 5 lakh on Thursday night. The incident came to light on Friday morning, following which the police arrested two suspects.Sources said that the night before, the duo were fleeing Ponnammal's house when the autorickshaw they were travelling in, met with a minor accident. This aroused the suspicions of relatives and neighbours who went to check in on the elderly woman, who they found unconscious and tied up, police said.The house was in a state of disarray, with items strewn around, and cupboards and wardrobes ransacked. Based on a complaint lodged by the victim's daughter, Gejalakshmi, 45, of Avadi, police registered a case at Pudur police station. Ponnammal's body was sent to Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for postmortem. Police said Ponnammal had been living alone at Surapet since 2006 after the death of her husband, Damodaran, a retired Harbour employee. She is survived by six daughters, all of whom are married. Ponnammal had recently arranged to sell a family property and had received an advance of 31 lakh. She had given 5 lakh each to her daughters and kept 1 lakh for herself. CCTV footage showed two men entering the house at 7.45pm and leaving at about 8.45pm on the day of the incident. Police later arrested Palani, 44, of Surapet, and Thulasidas, 51, an autorickshaw driver from Vyasarpadi.Palani, who lived in the same locality, had acted as a broker in the property deal and knew that the victim had received money, police said. Assuming that the cash was kept at home, he allegedly conspired with Thulasidas to commit the robbery. The advance amount, however, had already been transferred to the victim's daughters. Finding no cash, the accused allegedly murdered Ponnammal and fled with her jewellery. The stolen items have been recovered. Both the accused have been remanded in judicial custody, and further investigation is on.