CHENNAI: A 26-year-old man from Puzhal who was deemed missing for around two months was murdered by his coworker and his friend, who had dumped the former's body in a septic tank in Putlur in Tiruvallur district.
Both the deceased and the accused are speech and hearing-impaired. The deceased, Mahendran, a native of Tenkasi district, was working at a garment godown in Madhavaram.
Probe revealed that Mahendran was murdered by his coworker, Lawrence (43) and his friend, Vaidyanathan (45), on December 6. Lawrence was suspicious that Mahendran was in an illicit relationship with his wife, after the latter often visited their house and allegedly developed a friendship with the woman.
Lawrence warned Mahendran against visiting his house. However, irate over Mahendran's alleged attempts to reach out to his wife, Lawrence plotted to eliminate Mahendran and took him to his village in Thiruvallur district, where they consumed liquor. Lawrence and Vaidyanathan strangled Mahendran to death and then tied his body to a rope and dumped it in a septic tank.
As family members were unable to reach Mahendran, a missing persons complaint was filed at Puzhal police station in December 2025. Police had initially questioned Lawrence, too, but let him off. Later, records showed the deceased and the accused's mobile phones were used at the same location around the time of Mahendran's disappearance.
After this, Lawrence confessed to the murder. Using sign language interpreters during questioning, the police learnt the location of the body, which was fished out.