Couple, kin held for 70-yr-old’s murder

A special police team arrested Saravanan (30), his wife Sukanya (25) and his cousin sister Pavithra (22), all hailing from Karur, from their hideout in Tirupur. The trio was charged with murder of Baby Amma (70), an idli seller of West Mambalam in Chennai. Police had already recovered the gold chain that was pawned at a shop in Tirupur. 

The shop owner himself had handed over the gold chain to the police after coming to know about the murder of the idli-seller at Mambalam. “It was a bizzare case in which two women along with a man had strangulated an aged woman, who had gone to their lodge to sell idlis on January 21. 

They dumped the body in the room and escaped with her four-and-a-half sovereign chain. The murder came to light two days later on January 23 after foul smell emanated from the lodge room,” a Ashok Nagar police said. Later, the body was recovered and sent for post-mortem. Police said Baby Amma used to sell idlis to inmates of lodges in West Mambalam. 

The accused had come to Chennai and had taken a room under the guise of taking a city tour. Baby Amma had gone to sell idlis to their room on Jan 21. The accused pulled her in to the room and strangulated her to get the gold chain. Meanwhile, Baby Amma’s son had lodged a complaint with the police after his mother failed to return home on January 21.