A 60-year-old man was found dead at his house in Velachery on Wednesday night.
His decomposed body, with head injuries and a cable around the neck, was found by his son-in-law. Some photo albums and gold jewellery were missing.
T. Ezhumalai, who lived on the first floor of a building on 7 Street, Kannigapuram, was last seen on Monday night by his tenants who live on the second floor. “On Wednesday evening, I went up to his flat to ask him to switch on the motor. Unusually, the grille gate and windows were open but the main door appeared locked from outside. But there was no sign of Ezhumalai. So I telephoned his daughter Meera who lives in Achirapakkam,” said a woman tenant.
Meera’s husband Kabali, a goldsmith, came to Ezhumalai’s house around 10.30 p.m. on Wednesday and opened the main door with a spare key. He found Ezhumalai lying in a pool of blood in his bed with a cable around his neck. His gold chain and four rings were missing.
He could have been killed on Monday or Tuesday as his body was partly decomposed, the Guindy police said.
Ezhumalai, who divorced his first wife and was separated from the second, lived alone. He sold old engine parts but gave up the trade after he suffered a heart attack, a few years ago. He made a living by renting out portions of his house on the ground and second floors.
Speaking to The Hindu over telephone, Meera said she had been calling her father on his mobile phone since Tuesday afternoon. “Close to 22 sovereigns of gold jewellery and his mobile phone are missing,” she said.
However, investigators said the mobile phone was found on his bed and the missing jewellery, apart from the ones he was wearing, was yet to be ascertained as his family members were not sure of the exact contents of his almirah which was found wide open at the crime scene.
Investigators suspect a friend of Ezhumalai to be behind the killing. They had gone on tours and visited the Andaman and Nicobar Islands recently. The friend’s mobile phone was switched off and the photographs featuring him were missing, a police officer said.
