Retired Deputy Collector murdered, 1 held

CHENNAI: A retired deputy collector was murdered at her Maraimalainagar residence as police nabbed the accused on Thursday. Police said Pichaiammal (62), a retired Chennai deputy collector, was strangled to death. Police arrested Vijay alias Vijayan, a mason from Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, who allegedly confessed to the murder and recovered the valuables and cash he hid near the railway tracks opposite the house.  Police said the accused was known to the deceased and her husband Subbaiya (70), a retired block development officer, for the past two years.  On Wednesday he arrived at the house and asked the couple to recommend him for a permanent job. The couple gave him food and said he would be informed about the job later. The man sat outside the house in the portico as Subbaiya went to a bank. When he returned, he found his wife missing. Vijayan told him that his wife had gone to the market. As she did not return even after hours, the man approached the police who questioned Vijayan.

Subbaiya then called his son Karthikeyan, a software engineer in Dubai, who arrived on Thursday and along with his father, searched the house, this time opening the locked storage room, and found her dead with a nylon rope around her neck. Police said Vijayan confessed to the murder and said he had to repay a debt of Rs 70,000.