A 75-year-old woman was stabbed to death by a 31-year-old man who attempted to rape her on Wednesday night at her house in the Royapettah police station limits.
The police said the accused had been identified as R. Vasanth, 31, a pavement dweller. The victim was a spinster who stayed in her house alone, while one of her neighbours helped her. Neighbours last saw the victim on Wednesday night. When the helper returned on Thursday morning with breakfast, he found the woman lying in a pool of blood and alerted the police.
On receipt of the information, Royapettah police reached the spot. While they confirmed that the victim had already died, there were stab injuries on her face. The victim’s body was sent to the Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem. Royapettah police with the help of CCTV footage arrested Vasanth, 31 who lived on a platform for murdering her.
Police sources said Vasanth noticed the elderly woman staying alone in the house. On the day of occurrence, Vasanth had trespassed into her house and attempted to rape the woman. When she tried to raise an alarm Vasanth had killed her with a glass water jar. He repeatedly stabbed her on the face and after leaving her in the pool of blood, escaped with Rs 1000 in the cupboard, said police sources. The accused Vasanth was remanded in judicial custody.