An elderly couple were found murdered at their two-storeyed house in Anna Nagar here on Wednesday morning.
The police gave the name of the victims as Balakrishnan, 72, an advocate, and his wife Hemalatha, 67, French nationals of Puducherry origin and relatives of former Minister Theni C. Jayakumar.
While the jewellery worn by the victim was intact, several valuables were strewn all over the place.
According to the police, the couple stayed alone in the house while their two sons and a daughter were living in France.
Mr. Balakrishnan and Ms. Hemalatha stayed on the ground floor.
Neighbours alerted
The first floor of the house was vacant while a family had rented the second floor accommodation.
The tenants on the second floor grew suspicious and alerted the neighbours and a relative of the couple who lived in an adjacent house.
Neighbours found the couple dead in the bedroom of the house and alerted the police. Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the victims were smothered and strangled to death by the killers.
Fingerprints collected
Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy, Director-General of Police S. Sundari Nanda, Deputy Inspector-General of Police V.J. Chandran, and Senior Superintendent of Police Apoorva Gupta visited the house.
Experts lifted fingerprints from the crime scene and sniffer dogs were pressed into service.
The two bodies were sent for post-mortem to the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital at Kathirgamam.
Director-General of Police Sundari Nanda told presspersons that all the articles inside the house were scattered indicating that it was not a murder for gain.
The assailants had entered the house looking for something and had ransacked the house.
All the silver articles remained intact in the house, she said.
The police are probing various angles, including property dispute or whether the assailants entered the house under the pretext of taking the first floor on rent.
Investigators said that although Anna Nagar was a posh locality neither the house nor the houses in front of it had surveillance cameras.
The Orleanpet police have registered a case and are investigating.
