City woman killed for Rs 1.2 cr property, body burnt

A special team of police from Madipakkam arrested a Bengaluru-based realtor who allegedly kidnapped and murdered a woman to usurp her property in Chennai worth Rs 1.2 crore. After serving her with sedative mixed beverage, he burnt her body, police said.

Vijayalakshmi, a widow living with her brother Sugumaran (63) in Madipakkam, had told the latter on August 4 afternoon that she was going to meet her advocate in Mylapore. When she failed to return till night, he contacted the advocate to learn that Vijayalakshmi did not meet him. 

A week later, he approached the Madipakkam police with a complaint that his sister was missing. When they traced her call details, police found that she had contacted Baskar, a realtor based in Bengaluru, on the day she went missing. Soon a special team was formed and went to Bengaluru. 

The team nabbed from at Singasandra in Bengaluru a few days ago. During inquiry, Baskar told the police that she contacted him often to sell a house she owned in KR Puram in Bengaluru. But the investigators were not satisfied with his explanation and took him to Madipakkam. 

Finally, after intense grilling, Baskar admitted that he murdered Vijayalakshmi. Baskar said Vijayalakshmi was trying to sell the house for two years. Though there were no takers to buy it at Rs 1.2 crore that she quoted, she refused to reduce the price. According to the police, Baskar had already collected advance from a potential buyer after promising to finish the deal at a lower price. 

On August 4, as Vijayalakshmi was on the way to meet the lawyer at Mylapore, Baskar who had come to Chennai contacted her over phone. He told her that his friend was willing to buy the house for Rs 1.2 crore, and insisted on finishing the deal immediately. 

Baskar picked up Vijayalakshmi on his car. As they were heading to Bengaluru, he served her with juice mixed with several sleeping pills. When he tried to wake her up after reaching Bengaluru, there was no response. 

After confirming that she was dead, he dumped the body in the bushes in Pethmangalam village in Kolar district of Karnataka and burnt it using kerosene, he confessed. As the murder happened in Bengaluru, Madipakkam police informed the Pethamangalam police and handed him over to them on Tuesday.