Two murders on single day shocks Coimbatore

COIMBATORE: The last phone call he made to his friend nailed him. Police arrested a 26-year-old man on Monday for allegedly murdering his 21-year-old friend at Kallar near Mettupalayam on October 16.

H Rukshana, of Kovilmedu near Velandipalayam, had completed BSc in a private college. On October 16, Rukshana didn't return home after she went to meet her friends. Rukshana's father Hyder Sherif lodged a missing complaint with the Saibaba Colony on October 19 after his attempts to trace her failed. On verifying Rukshana's phone calls, the police found that M Prasanth, 26, of Vinayagapuram near Saravanampatti, had spoken her before she went missing. On interrogation, Prasanth confessed that he took Ruskshana to Kallar near Mettupalayam on October 16 and murdered her.

On Monday, a team of police took him to the crime spot where the body was found in a decomposed state. The girl's head was smashed with a stone. The body was sent to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem. Police said Prasanth, a software engineer in Saravanampatti, and Rukshana were in love for the last few years. A few months ago, she started to avoid him completely and marriage was fixed with another person.

Hyder Sherif told media that his daughter avoided Prasanth after she learned about his character. He had also visited Rukshana's house in an inebriated condition and fought with her. He was then handed over to the Saibaba Colony police where the issue was settled amicably. "We have altered the case to 201 (causing disappearance evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) and 302 (murder) against Prasad from woman missing case," said Saibaba Colony police inspector KS Saravanan.

In another murder, K Sethuraman, 22 of Arasaradi in Madurai, was found murdered in a house at Thattanthottam at Kulathur near Sulur on Sunday night. Police said Sethuraman took a house belonging to Sivakumar at Thattanthottam in Kulathur, 25 days ago, for rent. Karikalan, 31, a notorious robber from Nallampalayam, befriended with Sethuraman and introduced himself with Sivakumar as a realtor.

On Sunday evening, Karikalan had gone to Sethuraman's house along with a woman and introduced her as his wife. A few hours later, a scuffle broke out between Sethuraman and Karikalan. Suddenly, Sethuraman raised an alarm and the house owner Sivakumar and few others rushed to the spot. Meanwhile, Karikalan and the woman ran out of the house and escaped. Sethuraman was found murdered with cut injuries on his head and throat. Sivakumar alerted the Sulur police.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Karikalan was facing more than 20 robbery and assault cases in at least eight districts in the state. But the reason for the murder is not known. The police found more than 6kg of ganja in the scene. Police traced Karikalan and the woman's location in Salem and a special team had rushed to nab them.