A casual remark made by a teenager during a reality show on television led to the detection of a gruesome triple murder, committed in 2008 in Villuppuram district, police sources said on Tuesday.
M. Bhargavi, 17, who was speaking on a Tamil television programme about how parents objected to love marriages, said that her father was opposed to such relationships and had murdered a man, his daughter and her boyfriend. He buried the bodies near her house in M. Kuchipalayam village.
After the programme was telecast on May 20, a woman lodged a complaint with the Villuppuram police stating that her husband and daughter were missing since 2008.
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Special teams formed to investigate the case dug up the suspected site and found three human skeletons believed to be those of the missing persons, the sources said.
Giving the background of the case, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Villuppuram Range) K. Shanmugavel said that Bhargavi fell in love with K. Satish and moved to his house. Satish's father Kumar brought her back to her parents' place saying she was too young to get married.
Murugan threatened his daughter that he would eliminate her and Satish if she continued the affair.
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To further deter her, her mother Rajeswari told Bhargavi about an incident in 2008 when Murugan had invited his friend Sekar, his daughter Lavanya and her boyfriend Silambarasan home to advise the young lovers against pursuing their romance. Silambarasan was Murugan's employee.
When the couple showed reluctance in listening to his advice, Murugan gave them a drink mixed with poison. A little later, they fell dead in the house. Murugan dragged the bodies out and buried them near a well.
“After the telecast, Sekar's wife Jeeva lodged a complaint on June 1 stating that her husband and daughter were missing. During investigation, police found Bhargavi in the office of the television channel in Chennai,” said Mr. Shanmugavel.
The exhumation was done in the presence of an executive magistrate, forensic experts and doctors on Tuesday.
“After post-mortem, forensic experts will conduct some checks, including DNA analysis and superimposition, to establish the identity of the three. Knowing that police were exhuming the bodies, Murugan absconded,” Mr. Shanmugavel said.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) S. George said that a strange twist of events led to the unravelling of the murder. Scientific evidence would be collected to ascertain the identity of the victims. “We will also investigate why no complaint was preferred even as the three persons were missing for more than three years.”