Even after 36 hours, the police are clueless in the murder-for-gain case reported in Villapuram on Thursday.
A 42-year-old woman, who was alone at her flat in the Tamil Nadu Housing Board Colony, was murdered by unidentified persons at noon. The killers had decamped with jewels weighing 12 sovereigns. Only after the victim’s husband returned home did the crime come to light. The incident has not only shocked the residents, but has also dented the image of the police as a number of petty and serious offences were reported in the suburbs in the recent times.
Only two days ago, a 58-year-old woman, who was sleeping at house in Karuppayoorani was assaulted by masked men who escaped with 64 sovereigns of jewels after tying her up. Superintendent of Police V. Balakrishnan, who visited the scene of crime at Villapuram, made inquiries with the relatives of the deceased. The victim was sleeping in the drawing room without locking the door. The killers smothered her to death.
A police officer, who accompanied the SP, said that it was a first floor flat. The ground floor portion was vacant and brokers had been visiting the place with strangers for “fixing the rent.” Probably, the movement of public in the street had to be investigated, the officer said.
While the public are shocked over the spate of crimes, the police have their own problems. Apart from the ubiquitous issue of manpower crunch, the police feel an exclusive team must be formed to detect such crimes. For each station or at least every sub-division, there should be trained teams.
More importantly, police stations in the district must be categorised into heavy, medium and light as such a measure would facilitate in getting additional strength for every station, the police added.
In 2013, six cases of murder-for-gain were reported in Madurai district and for the current calendar year, the Villapuram case is the first.
