A gang that allegedly kidnapped and murdered a builder was apprehended by a special team of the Chennai Police on Thursday.
According to police sources, the Guindy police received information that a car was on flames in the industrial estate area on the night of May 19. The vehicle was completely gutted and the charred body of a man was found inside it. Investigation revealed that the car belonged to one Masilamani, a builder, of Anna Nagar West.
Acting on the instructions of Commissioner of Police J.K. Tripathy, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) P. Thamarai Kannan formed special teams to investigate the case. The teams launched a manhunt to locate Suresh, the car driver of Masilamani, who was absconding.
Following specific clues, police arrested the car driver whose real name was S. Siva alias Sivamurugan (23) of Tiruchendur. He was in possession of a fake driving licence in the name of Suresh. Interrogation of the suspect revealed that he and his friends K. Murugan (24) and M. Nandu alias Raj Kumar (22) of Ashok Nagar here conspired to commit a major theft.
As part of the plan, Siva joined work as the car driver for Masilamani in the first week of April. The three would meet every night to discuss how to commit a theft or robbery in Masilamani's house. The three along with their associates S. Arun Karthik alias Sathya (21) of Jafferkhanpet, C. Guna alias Gunasekaran alias Arjunan (20) of Choolaimedu and P. Sankar alias Sakarapandi (20) of Kodambakkam made an attempt to commit a robbery in Masilamani's house on May 17. However, they did not succeed.
On May 19 when Masilamani was returning home from a construction site, Siva was driving the car while his friends followed in two motorcycles. As Siva drove in slowly, Nandhu came close to the vehicle and enquired the details of an address from Masilamani. As the latter was explaining, Nandhu and Arun Karthik got into the car through different doors. While they attacked Masilamani, Siva increased the volume of the music system to prevent passers-by from hearing the cries of the victim.
The accused used a belt to strangulate the builder to death. They took Rs.30,000 and some gold jewellery from him. Later they drove to an isolated place in the Guindy industrial estate area and parked the vehicle there around 4 p.m.
Shortly before midnight, they came back and set the car and body ablaze using petrol.
Police recovered some gold jewellery and cash the accused robbed from Masilamani. Two motorcycles used to commit the offence were seized, police sources added.
