A 29-year-old broadband technician was held for the murder of a 65-year-old woman that took place at JJ Nagar on Wednesday.
Police apprehended him a day after the killing and have advised residents, especially elders, to exercise caution before entertaining strangers into their homes.
The victim, Tripurasundari, was alone at her 2 floor home in S.M. Narayanan Nagar when the suspect, Gowtham of Ayappakkam, employed by Airtel in Villivakkam, entered the house.
R. Muniraja, Tripurasundari’s son, told the police, “I had lodged a complaint via email to Airtel on July 4 regarding a problem with the internet and the man came home and fixed it. Since the problem persisted, I wrote again on Tuesday and the same person came on Wednesday and killed my mother.”
A probe led by Joint Commissioner (West) K. Shanmugavel and Deputy Commissioner (Anna Nagar) S. Xavier Dhanaraj examined CCTV footage obtained from outside a lodge of the ground floor and spotted a man entering the building around 1.15 p.m and leaving the place at 2.10 p.m.
“The victim’s family identified the man to be a technician from Airtel who attended a maintenance call earlier. Thereafter, our team found that he had committed the murder and took away gold, silver and other valuables, which were recovered,” Commissioner of Police S. George said.
Elaborating on the modus operandi, Deputy Commissioner Dhanaraj added Gowtham had planned the robbery after his previous visit to Tripurasundari’s house and knew exactly when she would be alone. “While she was having lunch, Gowtham combed the house and spotted the valuables in an almirah. He then asked Tripurasundari for a knife to cut the cable and stabbed her in the neck. He pocketed 25 sovereigns of gold from her and other valuables from the house,” the officer added.
Gowtham fled the scene after changing his bloodstained trousers for Muniraja’s jeans from the house. Tripurasundari’s was first of the six houses he had planned to strike, investigators said.
