Namakkal triple murder: Death sentence for duo

The duo was found guilty of murdering three women (a woman, her daughter and granddaughter) in Namakkal town in October 2011. Though, three persons were involved in the ghastly crime, one of them died when he was lodged in the Salem central prison. It is worth mentioning that the gang was involved in another case in which two women and a six-year-old girl were murdered for gain in Karur on December 28, 2011, before they were arrested by the Namakkal district Police on January 18, 2012.

Sources said that the trio, V Santhanam alias Manoj Kumar (23) of Mambalam in Chennai, S Kamaraj (32) of Old Vaniyambadi in Vellore and N Elango (27) of Paramathi Velur in Namakkal became friends when they were lodged in  Salem central prison. They planned to rob houses, which had no male members. 

After coming out of the jail, all the three targeted the house of Visalatchi (75), a widow who was living with her daughter T Sathiyavathi (55) and grand-daughter B Sindhu (33), both separated from their husbands, at Mullai Nagar in Namakkal Town on October 13, 2011. They murdered the three women and fled with 28 sovereigns of jewels. Inquiries revealed that the murder and robbery plan was hatched by Santhanam. 

The trio had tied the hands and legs of the women before slitting their necks. Visalatchi and Sindhu died on the spot. A badly injured Sathiyavathi managed to get help from neighbours and was taken to a hospital. But, she too died after undergoing treatment for a few weeks. 

When the team committed a similar crime at Karur, they were arrested and lodged in the Salem Central Prison.  While the trail was under way, Santhanam died due to illness. Meanwhile, a Karur court awarded life sentence for the accused in the triple murder case. 

At Namakkal, on completion of the trial, the additional district judge (ADJ) V Sampath Kumar, awarded life imprisonment for the duo. After conviction, the duo was taken to the Salem central prison on Monday.