Police crack double murder in farmhouse in Erode, nab three

Erode: Two weeks after the sensational double murder at a farmhouse near Sivagiri in the district, police on Sunday morning cracked the case by nabbing three men, who confessed to the crime. According to police sources, the trio have confessed to the triple murder at a farmhouse at Palladam in Tirupur that was reported in November last year.

On May 2, Ramasamy, 75, and his wife Bakkiyammal, 65, were found murdered at their farmhouse at Megaraiyan Thottam near Sivagiri with gold ornaments weighing 12 sovereigns missing from their residence.

The murder came to light after their son, who was settled at Muthur in Tirupur, asked the neighbours of his parents to check on them after they didn't respond to his phone calls for two days. The neighbours found the duo lying in a pool of blood - Ramasamy inside the farmhouse and Bakkiyammal outside the house.

The Sivagiri police registered a case and began inquiries, even as political leaders, including AIADMKs general secretary Edappadi K Palanisami and former state BJP president K Annamalai, slammed the state govt over the deteriorating law and order in Tamil Nadu, and its failure to protect the lives of people, especially that of elderly couple living alone in farmhouses across the state.

Erode district superintendent of police A Sujatha subsequently formed 12 special teams and intensified the probe. The trio, identified as P Achiappan, 48, N Matheswaran, 53, and R Ramesh, 52, all residents of Arachalur in Erode district, were nabbed on Sunday.

V Sasimohan, deputy inspector general of police, Coimbatore range, informed TOI that the trio had confessed to the crime. "We are trying to gather more evidence to substantiate their involvement in the double murder. The trio will be produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody."

Initially, law enforcement sources told the media that the arrested trio were linked to several other homicide cases, including the triple murder reported at Palladam in Tirupur. While the Tirupur police had formed eight teams to investigate the case, they were not able to make any headway so far. In March this year, the state govt had transferred the case to the CB-CID.

A police officer, who didn't want to be named, said, there wasn't any notable progress in the case. "The arrested trio told us that they had thrown a mobile phone found at the farmhouse in a nearby well. We have deployed scuba divers to recover the device."

When contacted for comment, the deputy inspector general of police declined to provide any information on the matter.