Superintendent of Police (SP) of Coimbatore District M. Sudhakar on Saturday confirmed that K. Mahesh (28) of Tirunelveli District, who was picked up for questioning in a couple of cases on the outskirts of the city, had raped and murdered D. Ramya (24), a lecturer, at her house in Karamadai on November 4, 2014.
The SP said that the accused also stabbed the victim’s mother D. Malathi (48). Mahesh was booked under sections 376 (rape), 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
Special teams
Seven special teams were formed under Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP) S. Ramachandran to nab the accused.
“There are 11 other cases of burglary and theft against Mahesh in and around Tirunelveli District,” Mr. Sudhakar said and added that the burglar identified isolated houses and burgled them. He was lodged at the Coimbatore Central Prison on Saturday.
The arrest in connection with the Karamadai case was made after he made an unsuccessful attempt to burgle a house at Karapalayam near Kovilpalayam recently.
The accused broke into a house at Karapalayam tried to escape as the owner of the house returned when he was still in the house, police said.
“Villagers chased him, but the burglar managed to escape, leaving behind an energy booster pill and a piece of paper that was adequate to trace and arrest him,” the ADSP said and added that a piece of paper that he left behind had a mention of the crime he committed earlier for which he had to appear before the court at Ambasamudram.
After interrogation for two days, the accused was said to have confessed that he raped and murdered the lecturer.
