Father, sons murdered over years, woman ‘involved’ still at large

 However, police sources part of the investigation said if the local police had taken the missing of Senthilkumar a little more seriously, the murder of the latter’s father Moongilan alias Subbarayan in 2018 could have been prevented.

 VICTIM 1: BROTHER-IN-LAW Subbarayan of Padappai, a real estate broker, managed to buy lands in and around Padappai in his heydays. Among his two sons, Senthilkumar married Menaka of Tiruvallur in 2005, while his younger brother Rajkumar married Anandhi of Sriperumpudur in 2007.

 Police said Senthilkumar, after marriage, often demanded the partition of assets, leading to a quarrel between him and Rajkumar. In 2014, Rajkumar was hacked to death and Senthilkumar was arrested as the prime accused, though there were others involved.

 While Senthilkumar was released on bail in 2015, Subbarayan partitioned the assets for Senthilkumar and Rajkumar’s families, while keeping a few properties to himself and wife Padmini.

 VICTIM 2: FATHER-IN-LAW However, Senthilkumar went missing since January 1 of 2016. Subbarayan and Padmini, upset over him murdering their younger son, didn’t fret over too much while even Padmini was reportedly cold-shouldered at Manimangalam police station since the cops believed Senthilkumar was evading prison. Since Menaka often claimed to have spotted Senthilkumar, he was thought to be alive.

 “But over a period, Subbarayan developed a suspicion on Menaka since she started getting closer with Senthilkumar’s car driver Rajesh Kanna. He confronted both Rajesh Kanna and Menaka after which Subbarayan was murdered in 2018 by Rajesh Kanna,” said an official. Rajesh Kanna came out of prison on bail in 2019 in the murder case.

 MOTHER-IN-LAW’S KIDNAP Padmini, who lost her husband and the younger son and was not sure about the existence of her elder son Senthilkumar, reportedly filed a habeas corpus petition at the Madras High Court. However, Rajesh Kanna and Menaka, irked with Padmini for digging up a ‘long-buried’ case, kidnapped Padmini from her relative’s place in Ayanavaram.

 After Ayanavaram police launched a hunt for Padmini with the help of CCTV footage based on a complaint from her relative, Rajesh Kanna and Menaka decided to free her thinking cops would not then come after them. But after Padmini filed a complaint, police arrested Menaka.

 HUSBAND’S BODY EXHUMED While Menaka was remanded for the kidnap alone, it was only when Rajesh Kanna was traced to his hideout and arrested in August this year, the truth emerged that Menaka’s husband Senthilkumar was murdered by him along with Menaka’s father Arun (66) and a few others even before he killed Subbarayan in 2018.

 However, allegedly to prevent Ayanavaram police from gaining leads, Menaka, who was out on bail, petitioned the senior Chennai Police officials that Ayanavaram police inspector sought sexual favour from her. While an inquiry proved it was nothing but motivated charges to hamper the probe, Manimangalam police, based on Rajesh Kanna’s confession, registered a man-missing case on October 27 and exhumed Senthil Kumar’s body from Alampoondi village in Villupuram after which the case was altered into a murder.

 While Rajesh Kanna has already been imprisoned in the kidnap case, Manimangalam police have now launched a hunt for Menaka who has gone absconding.

 In her complaint, Padmini has raised suspicion that even her younger son Rajkumar could have been murdered by Menaka and Rajesh Kanna and Senthilkumar forced to take the blame.

 Only when police take both Rajesh Kanna and Menaka into their custody for interrogation, it will come to light whether the duo is responsible for all three deaths of a father and two sons or just the two.