COIMBATORE: A DMK functionary from Dharmapuri district was arrested on Monday for strangling his mother-in-law to death in a bid to steal her gold jewellery.
Police said the accused, Aslam, who is the Pappireddipatti Union Youth Wing organiser of the DMK, later transported her body in an ambulance before dumping it in a disused stone quarry in Tirupathur district.
The murder came to light on Monday when residents spotted the body of a woman floating in a quarry pit near Bharat Nagar in Vaniyambadi and alerted the police.
Police identified the deceased as Sasikala (50), wife of Ashokan, a retired sugar mill employee from Pappireddipatti. The body was found with marks suggesting strangulation and was sent to the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore for post-mortem.
Meanwhile, Ashokan had lodged a complaint stating that his wife had gone missing along with gold jewellery and Rs 25,000 in cash.
Police questioned Aslam, who initially gave contradictory answers but later confessed to the murder.
He lured Sasikala into accompanying him by telling her that a relative had met with an accident. “She was seated in the front seat, while Aslam was in the rear, and one of his friends was driving the car. Aslam strangled her with a rope from behind. The body was packed in a sack, transported by an ambulance to Vaniyambadi and dumped in stagnant water at a stone quarry," police said.
Police suspect that Aslam committed the murder to steal Sasikala’s jewellery. Further investigation is on.