CHENNAI: A 27-year-old mason has been arrested in connection with the ‘murder for gain’ of a young woman bank employee at Mandaveli on July 15. C Nachaal (28), employee of a foreign bank in Taramani, was found strangulated and a polythene bag wrapped around her face, at her house in Vedachalam Garden on Friday last. Nachaal’s husband Chockalingam worked as an accounts officer in a private company and the couple had a girl.On the basis of a complaint filed by the victim’s sister, the Pattinampakkam police registered a case under Section 302 (murder). Special teams formed to probe the case found that a five-sovereign thali chain and gold bangles of three sovereigns were missing from the woman’s body. Besides, her cellphone and cash in the safe had also been robbed. Investigating the case from several angles, the police grilled servants, visitors and associates, who frequented the house. They got the first breakthrough, when they found that the mason, E Marimuthu, employed by a contractor for construction of a building near the victim’s house, was absconding from his residence in Ranganathapuram, Thiruvanmiyur, since the incident. After a sustained search, they zeroed in on him at Elliot’s Beach in Besant Nagar on Monday. Grilled, the mason spilled the beans. He claimed that he gained proximity to the victim’s house when he came to work for a contractor, Mohan, who was constructing a house for her neighbour, Pugalenthi, in October last. He got a chance to monitor the routine activities in her flat, when he was painting the outer portion of the new house sitting on the terrace of her flat. While attending a housewarming ceremony at Pugalenthi’s house in June, he saw Nachaal arrive with her family, adorned with ornaments. It was then that Marimuthu, who was in dire financial straits due to lack of employment, planned to rob her house, police said. Two days before the incident, he monitored the movements of the family members and servants. On the day of the incident, he parked his two-wheeler near the fish market at Mandavelipakkam and waited for the domestic maids to leave the house.The police said he gained entry into the house saying he had been sent by contractor Mohan to inspect the seepage in the walls. On entering the bedroom, he cornered the victim and demanded her jewels and cash. When Nachaal shouted at him, asking him to leave, he strangulated her and covered her face with a polythene bag. He decamped with the jewels and Rs 5,000 in cash.The police also recovered the stolen property and Marimuthu’s two-wheeler.
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