COIMBATORE: A 30-year-old man from Bihar was arrested on Monday for murdering an elderly couple for their jewels in Salem.
The accused, Santhosh Kumar (30), a construction labourer, had murdered R Baskaran (70), who runs a petty shop and his wife B Vidhya (65), by smashing their head with a hammer after entering their house at Jagir Ammapalayam on Sunday. He too resides in the same neighbourhood with his wife and three children.
Police said the couple’s son, B Vasudevan (35), who resides on the first floor, found his parents battling for life in their house and rushed them to the hospital; however, they died on the way.
The Suramangalam police sent the bodies for post-mortem at the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital in Salem. Five special teams of police, formed under the direction of Salem Police Commissioner Praveen Kumar Abhinapu, scrutinised the CCTV footage and zeroed down on the suspect.
As Santhosh Kumar was not in the house, the special teams fanned out to different places in search of him. Around 10 pm, Sunday, he came to his house with blood stains all over his dress. During the inquiry, he confessed to having killed the elderly couple and snatched away 3.5 sovereign gold chain from Vidhya and seven sovereigns of chain from her husband. Police seized the stolen jewels.
Police said the accused had borrowed a huge amount from many people known to him. As the lenders pestered him to return the money, Santhosh decided to rob and settle the borrowed amount.