Builder found dead in car, two surrender

The murder, reportedly by strangulation, is suspected to be the fallout of a financial dispute, said Selaiyur police, who are hunting for two others.

The deceased was a builder named M Palanisamy, a resident of Arun Murugan Nagar in Keelkatalai near Madipakkam.

Police said Palanisamy was spiritually inclined, and became close to Ranjith Kumar who runs Jayasakthi Spiritual Centre at Ganesh Nagar in Agaramthen. A year ago, Ranjith’s friend Marimuthu joined as Palanisamy’s driver.

Few months ago, Ranjith borrowed Rs 5 lakh from Palanisamy, promising to return it in instalments. However, even though Palanisamy asked him several times, Ranjith failed to return the money.

On Thursday evening, Palanisamy informed his wife Muthulakshmi that he was going to meet Ranjith to collect his money. When he did not return till midnight, Muthulakshmi initially thought he might be attending some pooja. When she tried to contact him, his mobile phone was out of coverage area. Growing suspicious, she went to Madipakkam police station to file a complaint, who directed her toSelaiyur station where she filed a complaint at 3 am.

Around 11 am, police received an alert that a car was parked for a long time in a farmland at Sathya Nagar, with a man is sleeping inside. Police went to the spot and identified it was Palanisamy. His family was informed, who arrived with a spare key. When the door was opened, Palanisamy was found dead – police believe might have been strangulated as there were no external injuries.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon, Marimuthu and his friend Somasundaram surrendered at the Saidapet court confessing to have murdered Palanisammy. They were remanded in judicial custody. Police are searching for Ranjith and his friend Rajesh who is absconding.