Chennai: Accused of theft, servant murdered

Chennai: A 55-year-old male servant, accused of stealing from the house of Corporation ward 52’s AIADMK councilor’s sister-in-law’s house in Washermenpet, was found dead.

The deceased, Ben Chelliah (55), used to assist Gandhimathi, sister-in-law of Councillor Nagammal and the latter found Rs 10,000 missing from her house and held him accountable for the same. They took Ben Chelliah into their custody on Thursday and thrashed him asking him to return the money.

On Friday afternoon, Gandhimathi’s servant maid Devi took Ben Chelliah in an autorickshaw and lowered his lifeless body on a pavement near Mint bus stand and alerted the police control room about having found an unconscious man lying on the footpath. Cops moved Ben Chelliah to Government Stanley Hospital where the doctors declared him dead already.

In the course of investigation, the cops learnt from Sanjammal (39), Ben Chelliah’s wife, that her husband had been picked by Gandhimathi, her son Mohan, relative Kumar aka ‘Olli’ Kumar, from their house and tortured. Devi, who was a party to the crime and all other suspects, except Mohan, were picked up by the cops for interrogation.