SALEM: The arrest of a 26-year-old youth in connection with the alleged murder of two elderly persons in a drunken mood near Yercaud town near here late on Tuesday, took an unexpected turn on Thursday as police’s preliminary inquiry revealed that the accused was involved in two other murders long back.
The accused Saravanan, in an inebriated state, appears to be ‘mentally unsound’, said a police source here, adding, further investigations are required. This is indicated by the strange way he struck upon two elderly persons near Yercaud town when he under influence of liquor picked up a quarrel with them and smashed them with a big stone to death.
The victims were Periyaan, 60, who was grazing cattle in that area and his elder cousin sister, Vellaiammal, 65, who was collecting firewood for her kitchen when Saravanan dwelt a murderous blow on both of them with a big stone, police said.This double murder created a sensation a Salem with the arrest of Saravanan.
However, during preliminary investigations, Saravanan reportedly told the police that he was involved in murder of two other persons, another person by the same name Saravanan in 2009 and their friend Jayapal in 2011. Police said the accused version sounded weird as all three had then gone to Tiruvarur in search of job.
There they reportedly got into a fight and the present accused Saravanan had then allegedly killed his namesake Saravanan. That happened in 2009 with Jayapal having come to know of the murder, police said.
Fearing that Jayapal might spill the beans to the police, Saravanan also later allegedly killed him in 2011, police said. “It is nearly ten years since the earlier two murders were allegedly committed; the present accused Saravanan has been contradicting himself and seems mentally disturbed,” police sources said, adding, only after a detailed investigation, it will be known whether the accused had committed the two earlier murders as well, as no unidentified bodies of the earlier two victims mentioned by Saravanan had been found till date.
