A merchant navy grade-II captain was allegedly abducted and murdered by his cousin over a money dispute in Maduravoyal on Thursday.
The burnt body of Dilli Babu, 28, was found in a forest area in Chengam, Tiruvannamalai district.
According to the police, Dilli Babu, being on leave, was visiting relatives and temples with family for the last few days.
But he went missing on May 6 when he went to park his SUV after dropping his family at their house on Perumal Koil street, at the parking lot of the newly-purchased nearby apartment which was rented out.
“He was missing since Sunday evening. It looked like he was abducted. We did not receive any ransom demand,” his shocked father Boopalan told reporters on Friday morning.
The police suspect that the murder was the result of jealousy among Dilli Babu’s cousins as he became wealthy after joining the merchant navy.
“One of the cousins had borrowed Rs 36,000 from him recently, and as his family kept asking for the money, it seems to have triggered jealousy and hatred towards him,” they said.
On Thursday evening, with the help of the victim’s brother, the police identified the body, and detained Gokul, Dilli Babu’s cousin, and Kaarmegham, a member of the gang hired by Gokul.
Gokul confessed to the police that the idea was only to give a scare to Dilli Babu. “When Dilli Babu went to park the car on Sunday evening, the gang waiting there pounced on him.
One of them strangled him with a nylon rope and he died. Later, they transported the body by car and burnt it in isolated Chengam forest area,” the police said.