A migrant labourer, who is the prime suspect of the murder of an elderly woman near Kesavadasapuram, was detained in Chennai on Monday.
Adam Ali, 21, of West Bengal was caught by the Railway Protection Force at the Chennai Central railway station nearly a day after the murder of 68-year old Manorama who hailed from Rakshapuri road in Mosque Lane, Kesavadasapuram.
Her body was found in a well of an adjacent house around 10.45 p.m. on Sunday. The prime accused fled the city in a train after purportedly committing the crime. Five of Adam’s colleagues and housemates, who also hailed from West Bengal, have been taken into custody by the Medical College police.
Manorama, who had retired as Superintendent at the Directorate of Collegiate Education, was alone in her house at the time of the incident on Sunday. Her husband Dinaraj had gone to their daughter’s house in Varkala. The victim was reported to have gone missing by noon.
While the police soon initiated a search operation, they found out that one among the six migrant workers who resided nearby at a construction site had gone missing. The others told the police that Adam claimed to have assaulted the woman following an altercation and that he was leaving the place with his belongings.
During a preliminary inspection, the police found ₹50,000 had gone missing from the house, strengthening the possibility of the case being a murder for gain. After the body was retrieved, it was later found that a gold necklace and a set of bangles that Manorama had worn were also missing.
While a heavy rock was found to have been tied to her legs, a post-mortem examination revealed the death was due to strangulation. The police have recovered CCTV footage of the accused dragging the deceased’s body to the well and another of him walking towards the Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station around 4.45 p.m.
The latter prompted the City police to issue an alert across railway stations and other transit points. A team from the Medical College police have left for Chennai to gain custody of the accused.
