THOOTHUKUDI: After a judicial intervention and the suspension of two of its officers, the police finally made a breakthrough in the rape and murder of a Class 12 girl by arresting a 37-year-old suspect, 10 days after her body was found near Kulathur.
The accused Dharma Muneeswaran alias Maaveeran of Sayalkudi in Ramanathapuram district was apprehended on Wednesday night after CCTV footage from a windmill and a stolen motorcycle found near the crime scene provided crucial leads.
The deceased, a 17-year-old student from Vedanatham near Kulathur in Vilathikulam, went missing on March 10, and her body was recovered from a secluded area behind her house the following day. The post-mortem confirmed sexual assault and fatal injuries.
A missing case was registered on March 11, which was later altered to murder and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences offences upon the discovery of the body in the outskirts of Vedanatham village on the same day, the police said.
According to the police, there was no CCTV at the scene of crime, but they checked nearly 98 CCTV footage from surrounding areas, including the Kulathur-Kurukkusalai stretch, covering all en route villages. The police formed 10 special teams to track the suspect.
During the course of the investigation, 461 known offenders were physically and digitally verified and ruled out through antecedent checks and witness examination, police sources said.
The breakthrough came when a suspicious two-wheeler — earlier found abandoned near the scene and later missing — was linked with CCTV footage from a nearby windmill, showing its movement at the relevant time, a police official said. The vehicle was identified as a stolen bike from Parthibanur in Ramanathapuram district. Tracing the bike led the police to Muneeswaran, who had been released from prison in December 2025 after the suspension of sentence in a prior grave offence case, the official added.
Investigators said Muneeswaran was convicted in a 2020 case involving the robbery and murder of a 65-year-old woman and another sexual assault in Keezh Eeral. A Thoothukudi Mahila court had sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2024. He was granted bail by the High Court on December 18, 2024, and had been signing before the Mahila court since December 24, as per court directives.
The latest case had prompted judicial intervention by the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, which directed the Vilathikulam DSP to spearhead the probe and submit a status report by April 2.
Earlier, an inspector and a special sub-inspector were suspended for alleged negligence in registering a formal complaint when the girl’s disappearance was first reported.