Chennai cops on the hunt for murdered loan shark's severed head in Adyar river

Chakrapani (65), a resident of Chennai, was a fancy store owner and was also in the business of loaning money, apart from his work as a DMK functionary. He had left his home in Chennai’s Manali on May 10, on his way to meet Thameem Banu and Wasim Bhasha, two siblings who had borrowed money from him. But after he did not return, his body was found at their Royapuram house on Friday, May 13. In a gruesome turn of events, however, his head was missing from his body, which had been cut up into pieces. A search is currently on to find the missing severed head in the Adyar river. 

According to the police, Chkarapani had left his home in Manali on his two-wheeler on May 10, but did not return. The next day, his son, Nagendran, filed a missing person’s complaint at the Manali police station. Nagendran, the statement says, also searched for his father at the homes of several associates, before arriving at Grace Gardens in Royapuram where Thameem Banu and Wasim Bhasha lived. Here he found his father’s two-wheeler parked outside the house, but Thameem denied that Chakarapani had come there. She also denied having any interaction or altercation with him, and she and Nagendran got into an argument, according to the statement. 

The statement also adds that a foul smell was coming from the house, so Nagendran grew suspicious and filed another complaint at the Royapuram police station. When the police arrived at the house, there was no one home. But instead, they found a body, cut up into pieces with the head missing. Next to it were the clothes worn by Chakrapani when he was last seen alive. 

Three years ago, when Thameem and Wasim lived in Manali, they had approached Chakrapani to borrow some money from him. On May 10, Chakrapani had gone to their new house in Royapuram to collect the loan amount from them. But, as per the police, an argument broke out between Thameem and Chakrapani, who then tried to drag her by the arm. He also used abusive language on her, the police added.

Reacting to this, Wasim pushed Chakrapani away and the latter’s head hit a wall, causing him to fall over. After this the brother and sister stabbed Chakrapani, according to the police statement. 

Following the murder, they apparently asked for the help of Dileepbabu, an auto driver living in the same building as them, to get rid of the body. Based on this, all three have been arrested under murder charges and were produced before a court.

A report in The Hindu, however states that Chakarapani used sexually harass Thameem Banu repeatedly and that the harassment had led the three accused to kill Chakrapani.