Even as police were investigating leads in the triple murder case in which a senior official of Tamil Nadu Minerals Limited (TAMIN) and two others were killed, one of the prime suspects, Yasin alias Mohammed Yasin, was right under their nose repairing computers at the Ashok Nagar police station, police sources said.
Yasin, who owns a computer services centre in Kodambakkam, used to frequently visit the police station and office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Ashok Nagar) to attend to repairs in computers and printers. For about a year, police suspect that he was keeping tabs on the progress made in the investigation, the sources said.
“He gave no room for suspicion till the last minute … since there was a delay of more than a year in detecting the case, Yasin might have gathered courage that he would not be traced. Though time-consuming, our investigation was based on specific clues backed by scientific and material evidence,” a senior police official said.
According to the sources, investigation also revealed that Satish Kumar, the taxi driver, who conspired along with his friends Yasin and Udaya to murder the retired official Saravanan (74), his wife Kasthuri (70) and domestic help Anbarasi (17), had visited many foreign countries. Investigators are perusing his passport and other documents to find out whether he travelled abroad after committing the murder too.
After the triple murder, the three accused persons visited Puducherry, Kodaikanal and other tourist destinations on a few occasions. “Satish took a major portion of the booty and promised to give Yasin and Udaya Rs.10 lakh each later.
He invested Rs.4 lakh in a joint venture business in Villupuram and bought a property in the name of his mother at Puducherry.
He bought a luxury car and spent Rs.1 lakh to modify it. All this is being recovered by the police,” the official said.
Satish, who committed suicide days after police made enquiries with him, called all his family members before took the extreme step. While asking his brother to care of the family, he asked Mohandas, another suspect arrested in the case, to give his share of Rs.20 lakh to his mother. “The actual quantum of cash and gold looted by the accused from the house remains to be investigated. We are making recovery based on the information given by them during interrogation. Besides Indian currency and gold, they took a large quantity of U.S. Dollars and Euros too,” the official added.