Two youths were arrested on Saturday on charges of murdering a woman designer of a neighbourhood weekly tabloid.
They reportedly slit her throat at her office on Thursday evening. One of the suspects was an ex-employee and nursed a grudge against the owner of the firm and committed the crime to entrap the latter.
The victim Jyothi Lakshmi (30) was founded dead in a pool of blood in the second-floor office of the tabloid ‘Future Line’ in Varadarajan Street, Kannamapet in Mambalam by her employer Sreekumar. A gold chain and two rings she was wearing were missing.
Mambalam police registered a case of murder and a special team probed the incident. Sreekumar, the victim’s husband Muthupandian and former employees of the firm including the suspect Rafi (22) of Lloyds Road, Royapettah, were questioned.
Investigations revealed that Rafi’s mother Mumtaz had taken a Rs. 10-lakh loan from Sreekumar and failed to return the money. Sreekumar approached the Pallavaram police in this regard and had recently taunted Mumtaz on her inability to the return the money. This had enraged Rafi.
“Rafi made a plan to kill Jyothi Lakshmi in the office and make it appear as though Sreekumar had committed the murder. Rafi along with his friend Vicky alias Harish (22), also from Royapettah, came to the tabloid office on Thursday evening, killed Jyoti and fled with her jewellery,” Joint Commissioner of Police (South) K. P. Shanmuga Rajeswaran said.
Rafi had suffered a severe contusion on his leg during the struggle with the victim. When police questioned him about the injury, he gave ambiguous answers. Meanwhile, Vicky confessed to have committed the murder along with Rafi, police sources said.
Rafi and Vicky were remanded in custody and sent to Puzhal prison on Saturday.
