Woman missing case turns out to be murder for gain after nearly 10 years

TIRUCHI

Nearly 10 years after a 24-year-old woman was reported missing under Thuraiyur police station limits in the district, it has now turned out to be a case of murder for gain.

The Thuraiyur police who had been pursuing the case over the years arrested a couple of days ago two relatives of the victim on the charge of murdering Sudha in November 2009 after establishing the crime. Sudha was a resident of Thuraiyur.

The accused confessed to the crime to a special team which interrogated them recently leading to their arrest, said the police. Maha Yogeswaran and Rengaraj were remanded. Police sources said Sudha had been working as a nurse in a primary health centre near Thuraiyur.

She went missing in November 2009 with her whereabouts remaining unknown since then. As there was no progress in the case, the woman’s father approached the High Court seeking CB-CID probe.

In the meantime, the Thuraiyur police took up the case again vigorously and conducted detailed inquiries. The suspicion fell on Maha Yogeswaran and Rengaraj since the former allegedly took the woman on a car to drop her in the primary health centre.

During inquiry of the duo, it came to light that Maha Yogeswaran wanted money from Sudha to abort a child of woman with whom he had illegal affair then. As Sudha reportedly denied, the two accused allegedly strangulated Sudha to death on the car and abandoned the body at Pudhuchathiram in Namakkal district in November 2009 and allegedly took away six sovereign gold chain from her.

The local police in Namakkal initially registered a case under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and altered it as a case of murder a few months later based on post-mortem report. However, for want of tangible clues it was kept as undetected. Meanwhile, the woman’s father approached the court seeking a CB-CID inquiry to probe the missing of his daughter.

Police sources said the Thuraiyur police perused call details of the two accused thoroughly and during interrogation the duo admitted to have committed the crime.