Technology helps police crack murder case

Chennai: When the police officers in Kancheepuram were struggling to establish the identity of the woman found murdered in Walajabad on Monday morning, it was WhatsApp which came to their rescue. “We shared the photo of the dead woman with the officials in the neighbouring district and Chennai police officials said the photo matched the image of a woman who was reported missing at Teynampet police station,” said C. Vijayakumar, superintendent of police, Kancheepuram, on Friday.

For the police, once the identity of the deceased was established, tracking her killer became easy and on Friday, they arrested a 26-year-old man for killing Renuka alias Rekha, 37, of Teynampet. The arrested man was identified as G. Chandrasekar, who was involved in petty crimes in Tambaram. He confessed to have committed the murder as she threatened to expose their relationship to his family. The police managed to track him down when he used the mobile phone of the dead woman when the battery in his phone drained off.

Chandrasekar allegedly took Renuka to the forest area in Walajabad on November 29, where they spent time together. But they got into a quarrel when she demanded Rs5,000 and threatened that she would expose their relationship if he failed to pay. In a fit of rage, Chandrasekar allegedly strangled her to death. He then stole the ornaments from her person and also her mobile. He came to know that she was wearing only gold ear studs while her chain and bangles turned out to be imitation jewellery when he tried to pledge them with a pawnbroker.

The police said Renuka had been working as a maid in a few houses in Teynampet. She befriended Chandrasekar through a common friend and soon developed a relationship with him. She demanded Rs 5,000 from him for her household expenses. On November 29, she went to Wallajabad with her friend Loganayaki, who is also a maid in Teynampet. Only Lokanayaki returned while Renuka remained untraceable. Her body was found in the forest area two days later.