The murder of a woman bank employee at her residence in Mahalingapuram early on Monday has come as another challenge for the Chennai City police who are yet to crack six cases of murder for gain, five in 2011.
Commissioner of Police J.K. Tripathy announced last month that six special teams are working on each of the pending cases, which include the murder of elderly couple Jacob and Moni Jacob in Velachery in 2007.
In April 2011, a 52-year-old woman was burnt alive inside her house in Seliayur police limits. An investigation into the death went on for a few months but was not able to zero in on the accused. A special team under the Deputy Commissioner of St. Thomas Mount is probing the murder.
Last May, K.R. Koil Street in West Mambalam was shaken by the double murder of elderly sisters Jayalakshmi (75) and Kamakshi (72) whose bodies were found with a piece of cloth tightly tied to their faces. “The killer(s) had assaulted the victims and had tied the cloth covering the nose and the mouse preventing them from breathing. Gold jewellery the women wore was missing,” said an investigating officer.
Police teams probed various angles and questioned many persons, including a gang of juvenile offenders who used to hang out near the railway tracks behind the victims' house. A breakthrough is awaited, sources said.
In October, Parameshwari (65), a money-lender, was found dead with her throat slit in the pooja room of her first floor house in Bharatheeswarar Colony 2nd Street, Kodambakkam. Gold chains she was wearing were missing. Vadapalani police who registered a case questioned many people, including the victim's relatives, tenants and those who had borrowed money from her. Hair samples lifted from the spot of the murder were sent for analysis. The case is still under investigation.
In November, Ranjitham, a 38-year-old housewife, was found dead in a similar fashion inside her apartment home in Jai Balaji Nagar Extension, Nesappakkam. Ranjitham's husband reached home in the evening to find her lying in a pool of blood in their bedroom. The case is yet to see a breakthrough.
Among the unsolved murder cases are that of Ayyadurai (45), a watchman from Peerkankaranai, who did not return home after he left for work on May 17, 2011. Two days later, his decomposed body was found inside a toilet behind a house on Tholkappiyar Street, Peerkankaranai . The police have been unable to crack the case.
Keywords: murder, Chennai City police
