CHENNAI: A 68-year-old PMK worker and his wife, who disappeared from their
house
in
Tiruttani
on July 29, were found to have been kidnapped and beaten to death by the man’s nephew, police said on Monday.
Their bodies were buried in a forest area at Puttur in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district. The killers looted at least 150 sovereigns of gold jewellery worth around 54 lakh and 50 lakh in cash from the safe in the house, an officer said.
Police identified the deceased as
Sanjeevi Reddy
, who runs a private chit fund in Tiruttani, and Mala, and said Reddy’s nephew Ranjith Kumar, 28, and his friend
Vimalraj
were picked up in Puthur and charged with the murder of the elderly couple. They will be sent to jail soon.
The issue came to light after Reddy’s granddaughter Lochi of Chittoor, who spoke to him following her mother Jothi Shree’s death on July 28, couldn’t reach him the next day. His mobile kept ringing and was later turned off.
Lochi called another grandfather Balu, a resident of Pattabiramapuram village near Tiruttani, and requested him to visit Sanjeevi Reddy’s house. As the door was locked from outside, Balu and a few villagers broke open the door and found the safe and cupboard tampered with. The gold and cash in the safe were missing. They lodged a complaint with the Tiruttani police.
Investigators checked the mobile tower location of Reddy’s phone and found it had been turned off near Mandala Samuthiram forest area in Puthur. One team went to the forest area, while another checked Reddy’s call details and found that Ranjith Kumar, son of Reddy’s sister, had made a few calls before the older man and his wife went missing.
Police questioned Ranjith Kumar, a resident of Tiruttani who runs a sweet stall near his house. After first denying his involvement, he later confessed to bludgeoning his uncle and aunt to death to steal their cash and gold.
Ranjith Kumar and Vimalraj were taken to Puthur where they identified the place where they buried the bodies. The bodies were sent to the government hospital in Tirupati for autopsy. The two accused will be brought to Tiruttani to recover the missing valuables.