Caretaker smothers diffabled man to death; held
CHENNAI: Two days after a differently-abled man died under suspicious circumstances at a rented premises in Guindy, police arrested his caretaker for smothering the 32-year-old to death. The accused’s friend from Virudhunagar has also been secured for writing an anonymous letter to the victim a few days ago threatening to murder him if he did not pay up Rs 30 lakh.
Police said that S Vignesh from Thulukkapatt in Virudhunagar district, who had a congenital walking disability, was a triple degree holder and had been employed in PNB Paribas, an international banking group, in Ekkaduthangal, for the past five years.
Since Vignesh could not move or attend to his needs without help, his family always had a caretaker who would take care of him. Police said that the accused Arumugam of Kaliyampatti was appointed his caretaker in 2019 and stayed with Vignesh at a mansion in Ekkaduthangal before they moved to a new rented premises in Achuthan Nagar in the same neighbourhood recently. Since Vignesh’s workplace was closed due to lockdown, Arumugam’s primary job was to buy food for both and help Vignesh work from home.
“A few months ago, Arumugam had requested Vignesh for a loan of Rs 70, 000 citing his sister’s marriage, but the latter did not respond positively. Dejected over it, Arumugam asked his friend Narayanan, who works as a caretaker for Vignesh’s elder brother Veeraraj in Virudhunagar district, to write an anonymous letter demanding Rs 30 lakh or he would be killed,” a police officer said. But Vignesh allegedly ignored it after sending a copy of the letter to his family on WhatsApp. Upset at Vignesh’s dismissal of his threat, Arumugam smothered Vignesh with a pillow and murdered him on Monday night, the officer added. Later, he informed police that the victim developed chest pain and died.
However, an autopsy report revealed that Vignesh was suffocated to death following which police grilled Vignesh and he confessed. “He thought the police would call it a natural death and close the case and that he could withdraw cash using Vignesh’s debit and credit cards,” said another officer.
Arumugam decided to murder Vignesh after he was refused a loan of Rs 70,000. He smothered the victim to death using a pillow