Man held for murdering 81-year-old woman in Chennai’s Adambakkam

The accused smothered the elderly woman and stole her jewellery and other valuables, the police said. He targeted elderly women and was involved in a similar murder-theft case in 2021, the police added.

By: Express Web Desk

Chennai | April 25, 2023 06:19 PM IST

2 min read

The police said they recovered 60 sovereigns of gold and cash worth Rs 1.8 lakh from Sakthivel

Listen to this article

Your browser does not support the audio element.

Days after an 81-year-old woman, who was alone in her house near Adambakkam in Chennai, was found robbed and murdered, the Chennai police on Tuesday said they had arrested a 45-year-old for the crime. The police said that he was an accused in a similar case a few years ago.

According to the police, on April 21, H Sivakami Sundari of Thillai Ganga Nagar was found dead in her house. Apart from the jewellery she had been wearing, other jewellery from the house and cash had been stolen. Sundari used to live with her son H Sriram and daughter-in-law and the incident occurred when they were away at work, the police said.

Following a complaint by Sriram, the police registered a case and formed eight special teams to nab the accused. On Tuesday, Additional Commissioner of Police (South) Prem Anand Sinha said they have made an arrest and identified the accused as S Sakthivel (45), a resident of Bharathidasan Colony, K K Nagar.

Other Reads | ED conducts searches against Chettinad Group in Tamil Nadu

Sinha said Sakthivel used to work at an aluminium workshop. To earn some quick money, he allegedly decided to target women who were alone at home and rob them. The police officer said Sakthivel had conducted a recce of the area where Sundari used to live while pretending to carry out a job in the neighbourhood. On April 21, after learning that she was alone at home, he smothered her and robbed the jewellery she was wearing and other jewellery and cash stored in the cupboard, Sinha added.

According to the police, Sakthivel was an accused in a similar case in 2021 where a 70-year-old woman was murdered and her jewellery of 19 sovereigns was stolen while she was alone at home.

The police said they recovered 60 sovereigns of gold and cash worth Rs 1.8 lakh from Sakthivel and advised the people to immediately alert the police if they spotted any suspicious movement in their neighbourhood.

From the homepage