A 51-year-old woman, wife of a railway officer and mother of two, was found murdered in her house in Perambur on Friday.
K. Sumathi lived with her son K. Moulidharan, a part-time BPO employee, and was alone at home when the murder took place. Her son was at work.
“When I returned home around 4.30 a.m. on Friday, I saw my mother lying in a pool of blood in bed,” said Moulidharan who is also a third-year BBA student.
The unidentified intruder stabbed her repeatedly, the police said. The body was taken to Government Stanley Hospital for post-mortem.
A case of murder has been filed by the Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar police.
According to the police, Sumathi’s husband, Krishnakumar, is a section officer with Southern Railway and works in Tiruchi. He would come to Chennai on weekends.
The couple also has a daughter, Meghna, who is married and settled in Sembium. Around 7.30 p.m. on Thursday, Meghna and her husband Ravichandran visited Sumathi to return a sum of Rs. 20,000 they had borrowed from her. The couple had pledged Meghna’s jewels for the money.
Based on details from Sumathi’s phone, the police found the last call she made was to her husband, around 7.30 p.m., and the last call she received too was from her husband, around 9 p.m. on Thursday. The police are also studying call details from three landline connections.
A four-sovereign gold chain was found missing from Sumathi’s person as was the sum of Rs. 20,000. But some jewellery kept in the cupboard was found intact.
“We have ruled out the murder-for-gain motive as there were no signs of forced entry in the house. There were no signs of a struggle either,” the police said.
