Man held for murder of elderly woman in Adambakkam; linked to similar killing in K.K. Nagar from 2021

According to the police, the suspect targeted old women who were alone at their house. He would then do a thorough reconnaissance before breaking in and smothering them to death, before stealing the gold jewellery and available cash to settle his debts

The police have solved the mystery surrounding the murders of two elderly women, nabbing a suspect who killed them to steal jewellery and cash to settle his long-pending debts.

Last Friday, Sriram and his wife Banu, residents of 12 th Street, Thillai Ganga Nagar, Adambakkam, found his mother Sivagami Sundari, 81, dead in their home. Though the three stayed in the same house, Sundari was usually alone when her son and daughter-in-law were at work and locked the door, with the couple having spare keys. They also discovered that the jewels she had been wearing, and other jewellery in the house, was missing. The case was taken up for investigation after the Adambakkam police registered a case of murder for gain.

Addressing mediapersons on Tuesday, Additional Commissioner of Police, South, Prem Anand Sinha, said, “We have formed 10 special teams to trace and nab the suspect. After a meticulous investigation based on the analysis of CCTV camera footage, local field inquiries and analysis of call data records, we were able to identify and arrest the suspect named S. Sakthivel,45, a resident of Bharathidasan Colony, K.K. Nagar, near Udhayam Theatre two days after the murder was reported.”

The suspect, an interior design worker, confessed to the crime, and 46 sovereigns of gold jewellery and ₹1 lakh in cash were recovered from him. The CCTV camera footage showed that he came the house with an umbrella and a mask to hide his facial identity. “After committing the murder, he walked out on foot and caught an autorickshaw to reach Triplicane.  He took two different autorickshaws to reach his house,” said Frank D. Ruban, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Madipakkam.

When the special teams analysed the records of police stations in K.K. Nagar and M.G.R. Nagar, they found that the M.G.R. Nagar police were looking for a suspect who fled after murdering an elderly woman at an apartment in Bharathidasan Colony. 

“We inquired with several people, including the autorickshaw drivers, before zeroing in on the suspect. He confessed that he had killed another elderly woman, Seethalakshmi, 79, in 2021 in the M.G.R. Nagar police station limits, by smothering her to death and fled with around 16 sovereigns of gold jewellery and cash,” said M.R. Sibi Chakravathi, Joint Commissioner of Police, South.

Mr. Sinha said, “According to his modus operandi, Sakthivel targeted old women who were alone at their house. He would then do a thorough reconnaissance before breaking in and smothering them to death, before stealing the gold jewellery and available cash. Our preliminary investigation revealed that he was in deep debt. We will interrogate him further after taking him into custody to verify whether he was involved in more offences like this.”