CHENNAI: The Tiruverkadu police have caught three people for the murder of a real estate businessman last Friday.

The deceased, Sivakumar (47), was on his way to pick up his children from school when he was murdered. Sivakumar lived with his wife, Vijayakumari, and their two daughters and a son in Tiruverkadu.

On Friday evening, he was on his way to the school in the autorickshaw he hired regularly to pick up his children and had asked the auto driver to stop the vehicle to attend to nature's call.

When Sivakumar stepped out of the vehicle, a gang which was trailing the auto in motorcycles attacked him with weapons and fled the scene. Based on the auto driver's alert, a police team reached the scene and moved Sivakumar to a hospital where he was declared brought dead.

After investigations, police zeroed in on the attackers and secured the hirelings, Lal Prakash (32) and Mohan (21). Investigations with the duo revealed that they were hired by Suresh, another realtor. The probe revealed that Suresh was in a relationship with Vijayakumari, and he plotted to eliminate Sivakumar, without her knowledge.

The woman had expressed innocence about the plot to murder her husband and is still under enquiry, police said.