A compact DVD containing the pirated version of Ajith’s latest blockbuster ‘Billa 2’ helped the police crack a case of rape and murder of a six-year-old girl who lived in a refugee camp for Sri Lankan Tamils at M. Mettupatti here.
On Tuesday M. Sasidharan alias Kannan (24), a resident of the camp, was arrested on charges of rape and murder of the girl, whose body was found inside a cement concrete pipe of a culvert, less than a kilometre from the camp, on Sunday.
While searching for clues at this spot, the police team stumbled upon the DVD. They said that the DVD had fallen off Sasidharan’s shirt when he was concealing the body in the culvert on Tiruchi Road.
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While looking for further leads, some children in the camp told the police that they had given the DVD to Sasidharan on Sunday morning. When questioned, he confessed to the crime.
Scratch marks
The police said that during questioning on Tuesday, they saw scratch marks on Sasidharan’s chest, which he might have sustained while committing the crime.
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Curiously, Sasidharan was part of a mob that attacked Karna (29), accusing him of having committed the murder. A police officer, quoting residents of the camp, said that Sasidharan had vowed to take revenge on the killers.
The girl’s grandmother said that she did not suspect Sasidharan because the girl used to be very close to him, fondly calling him ‘anna’. The girl’s father said that he suspected Sasidharan’s involvement.
Irate folks
The police had a tough time keeping residents of the camp away from the hall where Sasidharan was being questioned. Some of them tried to enter the hall through the tiled roof to attack him.
Additional force had to be brought in to take Sasidharan away in a van.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Salem Range, Sanjay Kumar, and Superintendent of Police M. Sathiya Priya were present.