After seven years, city police finally crack missing girl case

COIMBATORE: Seven years after the disappearance of a minor girl, Coimbatore rural police have made a breakthrough and re-opened the case. On Monday, police said the 15-year-old had been raped and murdered by two men and they are looking for the body.
The girl, M Dhanalakshmi, 15, of Zamin Uthukuli village near Pollachi, had completed her Class 10 exams in 2007 and was waiting for her results.She had gone to her uncle’s house in Ondipudur during the holidays and had joined a computer course run by P Thangaraj, 31, and K Rajkumar, 41, of Bharathi Puram near Sulur.
After she completed the course, she went back home to Zamin Uthukuli. On April 24, 2007, she told her mother she was going to the temple but did not come back. Her parents searched for her in vain and called the police. Police made enquiries and found out that she often made calls from a public phone. They collected the details of the phone calls made and learnt that she and Thangaraj spoke often. Her family approached Pollachi West police, who conducted an inquiry but let him off as they could not establish any proof of his connection to her disappearance.
Police said Thangaraj and Dhanalakshmi had got into a relationship but Thangaraj was engaged to another woman. Dhanalakshmi wanted him to break off his engagement which he refused to do. Soon after that she went missing, police said.
A few months later, to throw off the police, Rajkumar called Dhanalakshmi’s father Mohanraj and introduced himself as Ismail. He said he had married Dhanalakshmi and the couple had eloped. He told Mohanraj that they were living in Udhagamandalam. A police team checked out the story and found it to be false. As they could not find any further leads, the investigation slowed down.
Mohanraj filed a habeus corpus petition in the Madras high court, which directed Coimbatore rural police to investigate the matter. A team was formed to find the missing girl. They questioned Thangaraj again and he allegedly confessed to having murdered the girl. He said he buried the body on L&T Bypass Road near Pattanampudur Pirivu.
On Monday, Thangaraj and Rajkumar were taken to the spot. The body could not be found after hours of digging. Police said they would continue to look for the body and arrested the duo.