72-year-old woman strangled to death

Coimbatore: A partially decomposed body of a 72-year-old woman, who was murdered during a robbery bid, was found at her residence near Singanallur here on Sunday afternoon. The city police have formed two special teams to nab the murderer(s).
The Singanallur police identified the deceased as R Mayilathal, of Anna Nagar at Neelikonampalayam. A police officer said while Mayilathal’s husband Ramasamy passed away three decades ago, her son went missing around two decades ago. “The woman was residing alone at her tiled roof house. She owned seven cents of land and two shops in front of her residence. The shops were rented out.”
According to the officer, Mayilathal wasn’t mingling with her relatives after her son went missing. “As a foul smell emanated from her house on Sunday afternoon, tenants of the two shops went to check on her. The main door of the house was open. When they entered inside, they found her partially decomposed body and alerted us.”
The officer said Mayilathal was strangled to death using a wire. “We suspect this to be a case of murder for gain. We are yet to ascertain if valuables like gold ornaments and cash are missing from the house.”
Deputy city police commissioner C S Madavan and other police officials visited the crime scene. Forensic experts were also pressed into service to collect evidence.