At 2.45 a.m. on September 16, 2023, a small hut on a vacant plot went up in flames at Gomathi Amman Nagar in a nondescript village called Allanur, near Melmaruvathur, 140 kilometres away from Chennai. The plot was newly developed and sat in the midst of a farmland. Hence, there was no one around to notice that the hut had caught fire.
It was only at dawn the next day that the police from Orathy in Chengalpattu district received information about a smouldering hut. When they reached the spot, they could only recover the charred remains of a man, who was likely over 38 years, from the destroyed hut.
Villagers assumed that the corpse was that of R. Suresh, 38, a B. Com drop-out and self-made physical trainer from Tikkakulam, a locality in Ayanavaram, who had recently bought this plot. His mother Mary and sister were asked to come down to Melmaruvathur to identify the body. Distraught after being told that it could be their son, they looked at the charred body and concluded that it matched Suresh. The police handed over the remains after completing minimal formalities and recording it as a suspicious death due to fire. The family took the remains to Ayanavaram and cremated them. Obituary posters were pasted on the walls near his house.
Painter goes missing
Approximately 160 kilometres away from Allanur, on September 23, Leelavathi, 70, a resident of Tsunami Quarters, filed a complaint with the Ennore police that her son Dillibabu, 39, a painter, had been missing since September 9. His mobile phone was switched off. But the family said it was not common for Dillibabu to be away from home, on work, and would return a few days later. The police assumed that he would come back any day, and moved on to other pressing cases. Meanwhile, they analysed the call details of his mobile phone, but his whereabouts were still a mystery.
However, the investigation of this case picked up from November 28 following a direction of the Madras High Court on a habeas corpus petition filed by Dillibabu’s mother to the police to trace her son. A special team was formed by the Ennore police to trace the missing man and analyse his call records. Dillibabu was seen travelling on a bus on September 14, from Puducherry, and he called up his brother Palani, 42, of Thiruvotriyur, who is an air-conditioning mechanic, using another passenger’s mobile phone to inquire about his mother’s health since his phone was not recharged. Even after the inquiry with fellow passengers, the police were not able to get further clues.
Further investigation revealed that a few weeks before Dillibabu’s disappearance, Suresh and his mother visited Dillibabu and his mother at Tsunami Quarters while looking for a house to rent. Both families had lived as neighbours 14 years ago at Tikkakulam. On September 9, Suresh had come to visit him again and waited until Dillibabu returned from work in the evening.
The police learnt much later that during that visit, Suresh had lured Dillibabu into visiting his place at Allanur. What had exactly transpired is not known, though. At any rate, Dillibabu left for Melmaruvathur on his own and then to the village on September 12. Then the trail ran cold. Suresh was presumably dead and Dillibabu was missing.
Two women spotted
The police said the investigation gathered steam again after some villagers came out with the information that they had seen two women speeding away on a bike during the fire accident. Then, the police assumed that Dillibabu could have murdered the former and escaped.
Based on this, the police analysed the call records of the switched off phones and contacts of Suresh, including his female friends, and traced Hari Krishnan, 32, of Sarpana Medu, Vellore. He was working as a food delivery executive in the city. He was not at home when a police team went over there. His parents told the police that Hari Krishnan had gone to see his friend Suresh.
R.D. Birumanandam, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ennore, said, “Our special team under sub-inspector Velmurugan fanned across several places in search of missing links and missing persons and analysed call records.”
“Analysing the call records for more than 10 days, the police found that Hari Krishnan used to call one mobile number regularly. The tower location of the phone indicated that the receiver was at Mosur in Ranipet district,” he said. The police then confirmed that Hari Krishnan was staying in a house that he had rented recently. On the morning of December 30, the police visited the location and were surprised to find that Suresh, who was presumed to be dead two months ago, was alive and staying there.
An investigation officer said Suresh and Hari Krishnan initially said Dillibabu had died in an accidental fire caused by a spark. Put under sustained interrogation, they spilled the beans. It was later determined that the charred body which was recovered in the Allanur hut was that of Dillibabu.
The elaborate conspiracy slowly unravelled. Suresh and his friends hit upon a plan to murder Dillibabu whose physical features resembled Suresh’s. Then they would declare that Suresh had died, showing the body of Dillibabu for proof, and claim the insurance on Suresh. Suresh moved on from being the victim to the perpetrator. He used to give people advice online on physical fitness and nutrition. He used to visit temples often and while he was visiting Velliangiri Hills, Hari Krishnan became acquainted with him. Both became friends, bonding over their desire to make quick wealth.
Online ad
After seeing an online advertisement for ₹1-crore life cover on a premium of merely ₹400, Suresh chose the policy and paid the premium for two years. Then, Suresh, Hari Krishnan, and V. Keerthirajan, 23, a native of Allanur, who had criminal antecedents, hatched a plan to claim the ₹1 crore in life insurance cover. After scouting for men who matched the physical features of Suresh, they chose Dillibabu as the target. For, besides his resemblance to Suresh, he had only an ailing mother. So, if they murdered Dillibabu, nobody would pursue it beyond a point, they assumed. They also considered murdering sany homeless person, but decided to go ahead with Dillibabu. Since Suresh’s mother was added as a nominee in the policy document, they intended to transfer the amount later to Hari Krishnan’s account and subsequently to Suresh’s account. Suresh’s plan was to keep ₹60 lakh for himself, while ₹20 lakh each would be given to his two associates.
They targetted Dillibabu and lured him to their place. They all had liquor for three days at the hut. The police said the plan was meticulously prepared and executed well. Around 2.30 a.m. on September 16, one of them pushed Dillibabu down, while the other held him down. Suresh then strangled him, without leaving any mark. They immediately poured petrol all over the hut and set it afire.
Suresh and Hari escaped on a bike, while Keerthirajan stayed in the same village to strengthen their case. On the next day, when the police arrived, he proposed that the charred body was that of Suresh and it could have been an accidental fire. The duo who escaped from the scene abandoned the bike on the beach promenade at Puducherry and travelled on buses for two days.
A day ahead of the incident, Suresh went to a nearby house and gave an ordinary phone to recharge the battery, saying that the diesel generator in his hut was not working properly. Before handing over the phone, he went on talking with his mother and said the diesel generator was faulty. All this was to build up a case that the generator was faulty and could have caused the accident, a police officer said.
No compensation
In the meantime, when Suresh attempted to tap into his insurance amount, he learnt that since this was a death in suspicious circumstances, the compensation would not be paid.
Chengalpattu Superintendent of Police V.V. Sai Praneeth said, “Coordinating with the Ennore police, our personnel at Orathy cracked the case and arrested three persons. We need to see if any other person was involved in the conspiracy. Whatever we could retrieve of Dillibabu’s body has been preserved for a DNA analysis. The DNA report will confirm the identity of the body and then the entire link will be completed.”
K. Sivasakthi, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Madurantakam, said, “We will take the accused into our custody and continue with interrogation.”
