3 held for murder of 70-year-old woman in Chennai

Chennai: Four months after a septuagenarian woman was killed, the city police arrested a trio that came to Chennai looking for a job from Madurai, on Wednesday.

The body of deceased Baby Ammal (70), resident of Brindavan Street in West Mambalam, was found in a highly decomposed state in a community run lodging service Tamil Nadu Saliyar Mahajana Sangam Samuthaya Maaligai, on September 23 last year.

The room, in which she was found dead, was last occupied by the arrested trio, identified as Saravanan (31), Suganya (26) and her cousin Pavithra (19).

They were staying in that room between September 10 and 21. The family had come to the city since Saravanan, a weaver, could not make ends meet back in Madurai.

On September 21, 2015, the family locked the room and left at around 11 am after reportedly murdering Baby Ammal. They went out saying they want to withdraw money and would come back to settle room rent dues. They never returned to the lodge.

After preliminary investigations, Ashok Nagar police widely circulated the pictures of the trio in the form of pamphlets in districts. They were picked up from a hideout in Tirupur district and confessed to the crime.

The lodge manager tipped of Ashok Nagar Police after foul smell emanated from the locked room in which the family was staying on September 23.

Ashok Nagar police moved the body for post mortem besides identifying the deceased.

Baby Ammal used to supply idlies to the lodging houses in that locality and was eking a living out of it.