On April 27, Stephen (41), a Chennai-based businessman, was arrested on charges of murdering three persons in 2015 in three separate operations.
According to police sources, what was striking about these murders was that he had administered a deadly injection to all three victims, with the help of his aides, through a novel method that made their deaths appear natural.
It took the confession of his three aides, while they were being questioned by the police in connection with a burglary at Stephen’s house, to bring these murders to light.
Stephen had removed the tip of an umbrella and made a provision for a syringe to be fitted in its place. He would fill the syringe with a deadly chemical, suspected to be potassium cyanide. Using this umbrella with a poisoned tip, his aides would gently inject the poison into a target. Nobody would know what was going on, not even the victim, who would die in ten minutes, after suffering a heart attack, police sources said.
In this manner, Stephen had murdered two men, whose wives he was in relationships with, and also his brother-in-law.
A recall
While the report of these sensational murders was received with surprise by most of the city residents, for some, the case brought to mind a spate of Visha Oosi (poison injection) murders that rocked the city in the 1970s.
These cases in the 1970s proved a challenge to the police; after they were cracked, these cases were established as case studies in the police academy.
Seven people are said to have been murdered between December 1970 and October 1972, using poisoned syringes by a gang that included a drug store owner, T.V. Vaitheeswaran.
According to the State Crime Branch, CID, which filed the chargesheet, Vaitheeswaran and his seven accomplices targeted persons coming into the city with large amounts of cash for business purposes.
The victims included Vadivullan Chettlar of Karaikudi who was carrying Rs. 1.5 lakh, Shahul Hamll of Malaysia (Rs. 55,000), Buhan Thambi of Tirunellvelli district (Rs. 50,000), Siddique of Kayalpatnam (Rs. 60 000) and Mohammed Salai of Karaikal (Rs. 19.900).
Thaika Thambi, the last victim, was murdered in October 1972. He was carrying 23 gold bits valued at Rs. 75.000.
The eight, including Vaitheeswaran, were arrested and charged with conspiracy, abduction, robbery, drugging and murder.
They gang members would posed as customs officers and under the pretext of interrogation, took them in a car to far-off places, drugged and murdered them on the way and took away their valuables.
Their bodies were disposed of on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra border.
The men are said to have injected pethedine into the victims after telling them it was a ‘truth serum’ used for investigation.
The investigation was conducted under the supervision of Mr. S. Krishnaraj, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, CID and Mr. K. V. Gnanasambandam, Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch, CID.
No connection
However, police say Stephen, who committed the three murders with the umbrella fitted with a poisoned syringe, is unlikely to have been influenced by the cases from the 1970s.
It is believed he chose the modus operandi after carrying out research on the internet.
“He had tried different methods including using darts. Finally, he decided on using syringes,” said a senior police officer.
