Chennai: Advocate Ravi (45) of Maduravoyal, suspected of murdering his two children, was allegedly threatening his estranged wife Maheshwari for the past one year that he would kill the children if she did not return. On Wednesday night, Maheshwari’s fears came true after cops called to inform her that her children were found dead in their apartment. Maheshwari immediately called her husband, only to find his phone switched off.
The Maduravoyal police were informed by the residents of the TNHB complex on Wednesday after foul smell emanated from Ravi’s locked apartment and cops suspect the murder to have happened at least a week ago. On Thursday, Maheshwari reached the city along with her family to identify her children’s bodies kept in the KMC mortuary since Wednesday. “He kept telling me that he would kill the children after Prabhu’s (the younger son) birthday on May 24. We did not bother much as we did not perceive the threat to be serious. He was fond of the kids,” said Manohar, maternal uncle of the deceased children.
A visibly distraught Maheshwari kept to herself and chose to cover her face and sought the help of a woman police to escort her from the prying eyes of a camera crew. Ravi, an advocate of the Poonamallee court, is absconding for more than a week and his phone has been switched off. The police said the woman had given a written statement to them stating that her husband told her over phone that he was going to kill the kids.
Ravi had not sent the children to school for the past one year, according to the relatives. The advocate couple had a love marriage in 2001 while practising in the Madras high court and separated two years ago. While Ravi stayed at his Maduravoyal apartment with his children R. Ishwarya Priyadarshini (13) and R. Jaya Krishna Prabhu (11) Maheshwari moved to her native place, Chidambaram, and stayed with her family.
“My sister used to be in touch with the children over phone and last visited them about a year ago,” said Manohar, an ex-serviceman. According to him, the relationship between Ravi and his family was always strained and it became further complicated when he tried, Manohar claims, to usurp a property of his on the pretext of helping him. “That was in 2009 and since then he has been harassing my sister asking her to bring money,” said Manohar.
However, the family could not believe that Ravi could bring himself to kill the children. “Whatever differences with the wife, he was always fond of the children. Once he went around chasing a dog with a knife after it bit the girl,” added Manmadhan, Manohar’s younger brother. However, they are left to suspect nobody but Ravi. Special teams are campaining at Madurai, Ravi’s native place. He left his bike behind and escaped in his car. “He bought the car recently from another advocate. We are questioning him too,” said an investigating officer.
