Two held for murdering two women for gold

Coimbatore: Two people were arrested on Friday for murdering as many women for gold ornaments and dumping their bodies in the branch canal of Amaravathi Reservoir Project (ARP) on Karatholuvu-Nattukkalpalayam Road near Kaniyur at Udumalpet in Tirupur district on Tuesday night. The dead bodies were retrieved from the canal on Wednesday.
The Kaniyur police said the bodies, which were floating in the canal, were first spotted by by-passers, who informed Karatholuvu village administrative officer (VAO) Mujibur Rahman, on Wednesday.
An investigation officer said, “As soon as the VAO alerted us, we retrieved the bodies and sent them to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.”
According to him, one of the deceased woman had tattooed a name – Nagaraj - on her left hand and suffered cut injuries to her forehead. Another body, he said, had abrasive injuries on the left hand and right leg.
Based on the village administrative officer’s complaint, the Kaniyur police registered a case under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and initiated a probe.
Police, meanwhile, traced the identity of the deceased as Gokilavani, 45, wife of Nagaraj, of Sridevi Nagar at Udumalpet and her friend Krithika alias Gracy, 35, wife of Muthaiah, of SV Puram at Udumalpet.
Preliminary inquiry revealed Krithika had befriended N Kulanthaivel, 42, of Jallipatti near Kurichikottai, who was selling banana leaf at Udumalpet vegetable market, four months ago. “She developed an extra-marital affair with him and used to get money from him. It was Gokilavani who often arranged their secret meetings at her house. Kulanthaivel also became close to Gokilavani, who also started an illicit affair with him.”
The officer said Kulanthaivel, who was facing huge losses in business, hatched a plan to rob both the women of their gold ornaments. “He brought his friend R Kumar, 45, from Ottanchatram in Dindigul district to execute the plan. They called up Krithika on Tuesday night and went to Gokilavani’s house in a pickup van. After having sex with them, Kulanthaivel and Kumar strangulated the women and made away with a mangalsutra and Rs1,700 after leaving the bodies in the house.”
On their way back, a police team stopped them near Sridevi Nagar and took their photographs and that of the pickup van. “Gripped with fear, the two went back to Gokilavani's house, loaded the bodies to the van and threw them in the canal around 2.30am on Wednesday,” the officer said.
The Kaniyur police arrested Kulanthaivel and Kumar on Friday and altered the case, which was brought under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. The two were remanded in judicial custody on Friday evening.