After a 10-day investigation, the Chittoor police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested a notorious serial killer, resident of Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, who is reportedly wanted in nine murders, including that of a girl child, and eight attempt to murder cases, in addition to more than 40 cases of housebreaks and physical assaults.
S.V. Rajasekhar Babu, SP, told the media that Munaswamy (43) of Mathangal village of Walajah taluq of Vellore district had murdered two old women at Karvetinagaram and Palasamudram mandals of the district on February 17 and March 9 respectively. In the latter incident, the accused had left behind his fingerprints and handprint leading to his arrest.
A special team led by Deputy SPs Subba Rao (law and order) and I. Ramakrishna (Crime) scrutinised thousands of fingerprints of suspects and approached the Tamil Nadu police sharing the information with their fingerprint bureau. The fingerprints tallied with a suspect in an attempt to murder case in Vellore and a couple of criminal cases in Tiruvannamalai. This helped the Chittoor police establish the identity of the accused in the murder cases in the district. A special party went to Vellore and nabbed him.
The accused reportedly confessed to murdering eight women, mostly old and infirm ones, between 2007 and 2018, apart from brutally murdering a one and half year old girl after the child refused to give him a mobile.
His modus operandi was to select isolated houses at the rural side and attack the old women crushing their heads with boulders or stones. His crimes include six murders in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts. After committing the murders, Munaswamy would not collect valuables from the bodies or from the houses.
‘Aggressive nature’
The SP said Munaswamy hailed from Sri Lanka and settled down in Vellore district. “During interrogation, it was revealed that he is given to very aggressive nature towards the public and the police as well. We suspect his role in more murders and this would be probed after we get his police custody. An illiterate and living a vagabond’s life, he committed the crimes alone. We suspect him to be a psychopath and he would be subjected to medical tests,” the SP said.
Later, Munaswamy was produced before the Chittoor court which remanded him.
Teams of T.N. police from Chennai, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai are in touch with the SP for Munaswamy’s custody in connection with murders under their limits.
