Mason nabbed in Chirala woman’s murder case

He observed the victim’s movements, attacked her when she was alone at home, say police

The Chirala police on Monday announced the cracking of a murder case of a woman in Chirala on August 29.

Disclosing details of the case to the media, Superintendent of Police Vakul Jindal said that on August 29, V. Madan Gopalamurthy, 66, had returned home after a morning errand to find his wife Vijaya Lakshmi, 54, lying dead on the floor in a pool of blood. In his complaint to the Chirala police, Mr. Gopalamurthy said that he saw a man escaping through the side door of their residence.

During their investigation, police identified the suspect as Shaikh Shamshuddin, a mason who had once worked on the ground-floor portion of the complainant’s residence.

Police arrested the accused after ascertaining his location via his call data records. During interrogation, the accused reportedly told police that he had been observing the couple’s daily activities, and planned the attack at a time when the woman was alone at home. He reportedly confessed to strangling the woman and fleeing with her jewellery and mobile phone.

Police produced Shamshuddin before a local magistrate, who remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody.