THANJAVUR
Reopening a man missing case following a direction from the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, the Ammapettai police have recovered the skeleton of the missing person and arrested four persons on the charge of murdering him.
The Ammapettai police had received a complaint from Thangammal of Maranerivariyendal near Thirumalapuram in Madurai district in November last stating that her son, Ilanchezhian, working as a mason with a building contractor at Ammapettai, had gone missing for than 10 months. In her complaint she had stated that Ilancheizhian was residing with his wife and child here.
Later, as she was not satisfied with the progress of the case, she filed a habeas corpus petition at Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. The Bench had directed the Ammapettai police to pursue the case seriously and trace the missing person.
The Ammapettai police reopened the case and during the course of investigation it was found that Revathi’s relationship with her husband had turned sore and Ilancheizhian had been living with his father and mother for about a year before he returned to Thanjavur in January 2018.
Revathi is said to have admitted that Ilancheizhian was unhappy with her friendship with his friend Ilavanan of Pettuvachavadi in Thanjavur, and wanted her to discontinue the friendship. As he could not persuade her to do so, he had left Thanjavur and stayed with his parents for more than 10 months in the year 2017.
Further investigation revealed that on his return, Ilancheizhian was strangulated to death by Ilavanan, Revathi and Ilavanan’s friend Kaliyaperumal of Arithuvaramangalam on January 18.
Subsequently, Ilavanan with the help of his friend Mani of Paruthividithi near Gandharvakottai in Pudukottai district, had transported the body wrapped in a blanket in an autorichshaw to Vallam. They had stashed the body into a cement pipe of the outlet channel of the Minnathur lake near Vallam and sealed both ends of the pipe with mud.
Revathi, Ilavanan, Kaliyaperumal and Mani were arrested on Saturday and remanded in judicial custody.