A day after the murder of two women at their house in Kundrathur, the police on Wednesday arrested Jayakumar, an accused who was absconding.
This is the third arrest in the case.
On Tuesday, the 25-year-old maid of the family and her accomplice, a 40-year-old woman, were arrested.
A hunt was on for Jayakumar, the friend of the maid, who is also allegedly involved in the twin murder.
He was found in a hideout near Pallavaram and 16 sovereigns of jewels were recovered from him, the police said.
According to the police, they zeroed in on the killers after Subashree, daughter of Thenmozhi, one of the victims, named Sathya, the maid of her grandmother, Vasantha.
“Sathya’s boyfriend Jayakumar slit Vasantha’s throat with a kitchen knife while he, along with Sathya and the other woman, Doulath Begum, slit Subashree’s throat. The trio also tried to smother her eight-month-old sister Gunashree with a pillow, but she survived the attack,” the police said.
Thenmozhi, who returned from work in the evening, also met with the same fate, with the group murdering her right away. Assuming that all of them were dead, they decamped with gold jewellery from the house.
However, Subashree, who regained consciousness the next morning, came out of the house and informed a neighbour, who informed the police. Following this, the two women were arrested.
All the three were lodged in Puzhal prison after being remanded by a court, the police added. A senior police official has cautioned residents, particularly women, to run a background check on the domestic workers they hired.
Funeral held
Ramasamy, Thenmozhi’s husband, who works in Oman, reached Chennai for the funeral, which was held on Wednesday.
He was nabbed from a hideout near Pallavaram, and jewels were recovered from him
