A day after the murder of a woman at her home at the Tamil Nadu Housing Board (TNHB) quarters in New Washermenpet on Wednesday, police said they had cracked the case with the arrest of her brother.
According to investigating officers, a team led by joint commissioner (north zone), Sridhar, arrested K. Satish Kumar (34), a cab driver, for murdering his sister B. Rekha (36), as she had refused to lend him money to settle his house rent dues.
Around noon on Tuesday, Satish had gone to Rekha’s house, where she lived with her husband and two children, and demanded Rs. 10,000.
When Rekha refused to give hime the money, Satish took a knife from the kitchen and slit her throat. He then left her to die in the living room, sprinkled chill powder all over the house, stole a 16-sovereign gold chain, and left.
When Rekha’s children came home from school, they found her lying in a pool of blood. Neighbours then alerted the police.
“Satish had borrowed money from Rekha several times before and hadn’t returned it. So she refused to lend him anymore. But Satish was desperate, as he had enormous debts,” a police officer said.
He added that Satish had pawned the chain for Rs. 30,000 at a shop in Perungalathur where he resided. He had paid his rent and deposited the rest of the money in his bank account.
“During our investigation, we found that Satish had met Rekha at her home on Monday too, and fought with her about the money. Satish’s wife said that on the day of the murder, he had returned home and immediately washed his clothes. When we interrogated him, he confessed,” said the officer.
Rekha’s body was sent to Government Stanley Hospital for a post-mortem examination. A case of murder has been registered by the New Washermenpet police and Satish has been lodged at Puzhal prison.
