The identity of a man who was murdered on the sands of the Marina last December by two youths has been established four months after the killing. A constable at the Crime Records Bureau here identified the match between the photographs of the man's body and his marriage photograph submitted along with a man missing complaint lodged by his mother at the Maduravoyal police station.
Joint Commissioner of Police (East) S.N. Seshasai said, the victim identified as Thiagarajan (32), a carpenter and a resident of Senthamizh Nagar, Nerkundram, was beaten and smothered to death on the beach sand by suspects Prabhu (25) and Ratheesh (25), both from Kanyakumari, around 12.30 a.m. on December 12, 2011.
“The suspects were asleep on the sand when the victim Thiagarajan who was in an inebriated state stumbled on the leg of one of them. The duo got into an argument with the victim and assaulted him. They then pushed his head into the sand and killed him,” said M. Saravanan, Inspector of Police, Marina.
A teenager who witnessed the murder ran and alerted two beat officers on duty who swiftly apprehended Prabhu and Ratheesh from the spot. The duo were remanded to custody and sent to Puzhal prison, the officer added.
However, the identity of the deceased remained unknown. Investigators sent the photographs of the body with description of identification marks on it to the Crime Records Bureau.
Twenty days after the murder, Thiagarajan's mother Shanti lodged a man missing complaint with the Maduravoyal police affixing her son's photograph which was taken more than five years ago. The photograph was sent with a bunch of missing person files to the CRB.
“Last week, a lady constable examining the files at the CRB found the match between Thiagarajan's photograph of his body and the photograph submitted by his mother,” added Mr. Seshasai.
Maduravoyal police said Shanti came to the Marina police station on Saturday and ascertained that the murdered person was her son Thiagarajan after identifying the photographs and the polka dotted shirt he was wearing at the time of death. However, police plan to carry out scientific analysis to further establish her claims.
