Three held for murdering man in Tirupur

COIMBATORE: The body of a 26-year-old youth, who went missing four days ago from the house of a construction labourer at Anupparpalayam Pudur in Tirupur city, was exhumed on Saturday. The youth was murdered by a family and the body was buried inside the house. Tirupur city police have arrested three members of the family in connection with the murder.
The arrested were identified as Rakkappan alias Ragavan,42, his second wife Jayalakshmi alias Jaya, 28, and his son Arunpandian,19, all hailing from Anupparpalayam Pudur in Tirupur city. The deceased was identified as C Bala alias Thiruvarasu, who was the owner-cum-driver of a goods auto in Veerappachettiyar Street at Anupparpalayam in Tirupur city.
C Ilaiyaraja, 24, younger brother of the deceased, had lodged a complaint with 15 Velampalayam police on April 8 that his elder brother Bala was missing since April 7. He told the police that he had dropped off his brother near the house of Ragavan at Anupparpalayam Pudur. The next day, when he went to the house he found that tenants had vacated and he could not find his brother. He then approached the police. Initially a man missing case was registered.
Meanwhile, Tirupur city police commissioner MT Ganeshamurthy formed three special teams led by inspectors M Sundarapandian, J Nagarajan and V Selvaraj to investigate the case.
The police got vital clues about the Ragavan and his family members on Friday and picked the trio for inquiry from Kangeyam bus stand in Tirupur and they confessed to the crime.
Ragavan told the police that the deceased Bala was his close friend for the last 10 years. He used to visit Ragavan's house frequently.
Bala developed close relationship with Ragavan's second wife Jaya and tried to misbehave with her. He used to call her on her mobile phone. Jaya's stepson Arunpandian came to know about Bala's misdemeanors and had advised him not to disturb Jaya.
However, Bala turned violent and beat him severely. He even tattooed the name of Jaya at two spots on the body of Arunpandian who felt shamed over the indecent. Arunpandian informed his father Ragavan about the incident.
Then the family members hatched a plot to kill Bala.
Police said, on April 8, Jaya made a call to Bala and claimed that she was alone at her house. Bala then went to the house where Ragavan and Arunpandian were hiding. They attacked him with wooden logs and murdered him. Later, they buried the body inside the house.
"The trio was staying in a rented house. They dug a pit inside the house and buried the body. Then the trio escaped from the house," said inspector M Sundarapandian, 15 Velampalayam police station.
Police obtained permission from Tahsildar in Tirupur and the body was exhumed from the house on Saturday. Tirupur Government Hospital doctors carried out the postmortem. The arrested have been remanded in judicial custody on Saturday evening.