A plan hatched by a man and his son to have each other killed went horribly wrong with the killer murdering both of them and burying their bodies on the banks of Palar River, south of Chennai.
The crimes were sparked by the discovery, nine months ago, of the charred body of a 27-year-old woman inside a forest area in Sunguvarchathiram. The woman was identified as Sundari, wife of Vijayaganapathy, a farmer residing at Molachur village in Sriperumbudur.
Inquiries revealed that Sundari was murdered by her husband and father-in-law Vibushanan, who allegedly had an affair with her. “When Vijayaganapathy learnt about the affair, his father convinced him that Sundari had affairs with several other people and deserved to be killed. So the two murdered her,” police said.
The duo were sent to Vellore prison, where they became friends with Saravanan alias Singaravelan, who was involved in several murder cases.
Vijayaganapathy then realised that his father was the only one who had a relationship with his wife. This triggered animosity between the two and they plotted to kill each other.
When Singaravelan was released on bail, Vibushanan asked him to take cash from his wife Kanniammal and bail him out. He also agreed to pay him a huge sum if he murdered his son Vijayaganapathy, as he feared that his son might kill him.
Singaravelan took several thousands from Kanniammal and bailed the man and his son out. He took Vijayaganapathy to the banks of Palar, strangled him to death and buried him nearby.
When he asked Vibushanan for money, the latter simply refused. Singaravelan then killed and buried Vibushanan too. However, a few days later he was arrested in connection with a theft.
The murder came to light when Kanniammal filed a missing person complaint with the police when neither Vibushanan nor Vijayaganapathy returned home after getting bail.
The police questioned Singaravelan who confessed to murdering the two. Sunguvarchathiram police has decided to exhume the bodies of Vibushanan and Vijayaganapathy from the banks of Palar on Thursday.