This incident comes after an unidentified elderly beggar sleeping in the open in Suramangalam was found murdered in a similar way by bludgeoning his head with a stone on Monday night. And on Sunday, a 55-year-old man was found murdered near the Collector’s office.

Police found stones used to murder the three men near their bodies at the crime scene. “We suspect the killer to have murdered them with a motive to steal money from them,” said a cop.

On receiving information on Tuesday morning that an elderly man is lying dead in a pool of blood near the old bus stand area, the Salem Town police, led by Assistant Commissioner Eswaran, rushed to the spot and retrieved the body and sent it for a post-mortem at Salem Government Hospital.

After investigations, the police identified the deceased as 85-year-old Angamuthu from Sadagopan Street in Ponnamapet. He has two sons, one running a tea shop and another a fruit stall. On some days, the fruit vendor doesn’t visit his house and used to sleep near the complex.