Three arrested for murdering retired Chennai Corporation employee over land issue

The Tambaram police have arrested three persons on the charge of murder of a 70-year-old retired Chennai Corporation employee in a purported attempt to grab his relative’s land in Uthandi on Wednesday (March 19, 2025). 

The Tambaram police have arrested three persons on the charge of murder of a 70-year-old retired Chennai Corporation employee in a purported attempt to grab his relative’s land in Uthandi, on Wednesday (March 19, 2025). 

A senior official of the Tambaram Police Commissionerate said the deceased Kumar was also an office-bearer of a trade union. Hailing from Ayanavaram, he had been residing in his daughter’s house in Selaiyur for the past one year. Kumar left the house for some personal work on March 16, 2025, but did not return, after which his daughter lodged a missing persons complaint.

During their investigation, the Tambaram police said they found that Kumar was murdered by a three-member gang, allegedly to take over a parcel of land in Uthandi belonging to his relative Ramesh, who resides in Mumbai.

Kumar had come to know that the land was being encroached upon by a person named A. Ravi of Urapakkam a few months ago. He had lodged a land-grabbing complaint at the Kanathur police station regarding this. The accused Ravi had created fake documents and contructed a compound wall around the land, the police said.

After the complaint, Ravi, fearing arrest, had contacted Kumar, saying he was willing to purchase the land. He asked him to come to a restaurant near the Tambaram bus terminus on March 16. When Kumar went to the restaurant, Ravi told him they could visit the land in Uthandi in his car. Land brokers Vijay and Senthilkumar also accompanied them, the police said.

When they reached Singaperumal Koil, Ravi threatened Kumar to hand over the original land documents. Kumar, however, disagreed. Enraged by this, Ravi, along with Vijay and Senthilkumar, murdered Kumar and buried the body near a forest land in Gingee, said the police. 

The police are also investigating a person named Sukumar, who allegedly created false documents and a fake patta for the land in Uthandi.