8 years on, probe reveals army man’s impersonation as brother

In June 2011, Chinnasamy of Pallipattu village in Dharmapuri was murdered over previous enmity and police arrested five suspects – Krishnan his brothers Ramar and Balu, mother Valarmathi and sister Meenakshi.

However, Krishnan, employed in the army then, claimed that he was not at the spot at the time of the murder as he was posted elsewhere. He submitted many documents to the police as proof. He also claimed that his brother Govindasamy committed suicide on the same day of the murder and submitted a death certificate for it.

As this led to a confusion, inspector Suresh probed the matter and found out that the death certificate was fake, and that it was Krishnan who committed suicide after murdering Chinnasamy and the person who claims that he was Krishnan was in fact Govindasamy.

However, during the trial, Krishanan submitted other documents including Aadhaar card to prove that he was Krishnan. While Ramar and Balu were convicted, Krishnan, Valarmathi and Meenakshi were acquitted.

Krishnan appealed against the conviction of his brothers Ramar and Balu at the Madras High Court. There, he submitted 26 documents to establish that he was indeed Krishnan and not Govindasamy as claimed by police. However, in 2016, the judges appointed Ponn Manickavel to investigate.

Meanwhile, the so-called Krishnan was arrested by Andhra police for four murders and other criminal cases. While he had identified himself in different names as Kappa, Krishnan, Govindasamy and ‘Military’ Govindasamy, the police collected fingerprints from all the stations and found that they belonged to the same person.

But there was a roadblock as there was no fingerprint of actual Krishnan available at Pallipattu police station as a few personnel allegedly received a bribe from Govindasamy and erased it. Also, Krishnan’s suicide was not registered by the police.

Ponn Manickavel started investigating the school friends of both Govindasamy and Krishnan, which gave evidence that the man who committed suicide after murdering Chinnasamy was Krishnan while the man employed in the army was Govindasamy.

“Govindasamy tried to join the army, but he had exceeded the age limit. So, he took all the certificates of his younger brother Krishnan and produced fake documents to change his identity as Krishnan and joined the army. In fact, the actual Krishnan got married 10 days before he committed suicide. But Govindasamy threatened Krishnan’s wife and made her depose before the court that he was her husband,” said police.

After Ponn Manickavel submitted a detailed report, the High Court confirmed life imprisonment for Balu and Ramar, and ordered Dharmapuri Crime Branch to book Govindasamy for impersonation and interrogate him. The court has also directed booking of cases against officials including police personnel who received bribe from Govindasamy and aided him.