Copyright thehindu
COIMBATORE The police have arrested a woman from Annur near Coimbatore and her paramour from Karnataka for murdering her husband’s grandmother in April this year and orchestrating it as a natural death. V. Nagesh, 25, from Mindigal village in Chintamani taluk of Chikkaballapura district in Karnataka and Joy Metilda, 27, from Kanjapalli junction at Annur in Coimbatore district were arrested for murdering the latter’s grandmother-in-law V. Mayilathal, aged 70. The police said Metilda had been working in a non-banking financial company’s corporate office at Annur. Nagesh was the manager of the firm’s Chelur branch in Chikkaballapura. They used to contact each other for office matters, eventually leading to an affair. Nagesh came to Annur where he met the woman privately a few times. Disputes arose when Metilda’s husband and family members learned about the affair, said the police. According to the police, though Metilda pretended to have stopped communication with Nagesh, she stayed in touch with him. She invited Nagesh to her residence on April 5 this year when her husband, who is a functionary of the youth wing of a political party, went to Madurai to attend a party conference. “Mayilathal found them in a private moment on the stair to terrace around 11.30 p.m. and shouted. They smothered the elderly woman to death and shifted the body to her room. The death was not informed to the police and Metilda orchestrated it as a natural death. The body was buried in a graveyard at Kanjapalli after final rites the next day”, said a police officer. Since nobody raised suspicions in Mayilathal’s death, Metilda suggested Nagesh to eliminate her husband and live together after usurping his properties. They plotted a plan to murder Metilda’s husband and Nagesh visited her residence in the early hours of October 23 to execute the plan. Nagesh entered the house through the door that was left open by Metilda and attempted to kill her sleeping husband by smothering with a pillow. The man resisted the attempt and bit Nagesh’s fingers, following which he escaped from the house, said the police. Though Metilda claimed innocence in the incident, her husband lodged a complaint at the Annur police station, where a case was registered. The investigation team led by Annur Inspector K. Selvan found digital evidence of Nagesh’s presence at the scene of crime and Metilda’s communications with him. The police apprehended Nagesh, when he was waiting in a car at Kanjapalli junction on Tuesday (October 28) to meet Metilda. During interrogation, Nagesh revealed the murder of Mayilathal and the subsequent attempted to murder Metilda’s husband. Nagesh and Metilda were arrested for the two crimes. Mr. Selvan said an application has been submitted before the court, seeking permission to exhume the body of Mayilathal for a post-mortem examination to investigate her murder.
