A 47-year-old woman, who was reported missing after she left home at Vilanur village near Avudaiyarkoil in Pudukottai district earlier this month, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered and the body buried in neighbouring Sivaganga district.
Avudaiyarkoil police, who initially registered a woman missing case on a complaint lodged by the victim’s son, have now altered it to murder after exhuming the body on the basis of information given by a duo suspected to have killed her.
A post-mortem of the body was conducted on the spot and buried nearby on Saturday.
Police identified the victim as P. Panchavarnam of Vilanur village. Those detained in connection with the murder were K. Sivakumar of Vilanur and L. Kalimuthu of Kumulur.
Panchavarnam, a widow, left her home on September 4 and did not return, prompting her son Palvannan, 25, to lodge a complaint with Avudaiyarkoil police. During the course of inquiry, police picked up Sivakumar and Kalimuthu and quizzed them.
Police suspect that the woman had illicit affair with both men. They said she gave ₹3 lakh cash and gold weighing seven sovereigns to Kalimuthu to meet the medical expenditure for his father. He reportedly decided to eliminate her as she allegedly wanted to stay with him. He and Sivakumar, who were friends, allegedly hatched a plot.
Kalimuthu brought the woman in a two-wheeler at a spot previously planned. The two allegedly strangulated her to death and buried the body at Vadakilakudi village in Sivaganga district. A Manipuri youth, Lalin Bhai, who knew Kalimuthu, was also allegedly at the spot.
The entire episode came to light during the interrogatation of Sivakumar and Kalimuthu, said the police adding that Sivakumar was sent for remand. It also came to light during probe that Kalimuthu was also allegedly involved in the murder of another woman in the district in January last.
Besides altering it as a case of murder, Avudaiyarkoil police also booked it under IPC Sections 397 (robbery with attempt to cause death) 201( causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 364 (kidnap or abduction in order to murder).