19-year-old woman arrested in ganja peddler murder case

Coimbatore: A 19-year-old woman was arrested in Erode on Tuesday in connection with the murder of a 22-year-old man in a rental house at Thattanthottam in Kulathur near Sulur on Sunday night. The arrested was identified as Suganthi, wife of Karikalan, 31, a notorious robber and a ganja peddler.

Karikalan, also wanted in the murder case, meanwhile, surrendered before a local court in Saidapet in Chennai on Tuesday. The court has remanded him in judicial custody. The Coimbatore police said they would move the court to get his custody for questioning.

K Sethuraman, 22, of Arasaradi in Madurai was found murdered in a rental house near Sulur on Sunday night. The preliminary investigation revealed that Sethuraman, along with Karikalan of Nallampalayam in Coimbatore city, was engaged in ganja business and they had taken a rental house at Thattanthottam by introducing themselves as realtors to the house owner, Sivakumar.

Two days ago, Karikalan and his wife visited Sethuraman at the rental house and the couple picked up a quarrel with him. Later, Sethuraman was found dead in the house with cut injuries in throat and head.

On a tip that Suganthi had fled to Suriyampalayam village near Gobichettipalayam in Erode district, a special team from Sulur police arrested her from there on Tuesday.

The woman, however, told the police that the murder was committed by a few ganja sellers from Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts. The police are yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder.

The police had earlier traced the whereabouts of Karikalan to Saidapet in Chennai where he had reportedly approached a few lawyers to surrender before a judicial magistrate court.

“We had despatched a special team to Saidapet. Now, we will seek his custody,” the police said. Karikalan, they said, has 32 cases pending against him in different parts of the state.