COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore district police on Thursday arrested a 75-year-old woman on charges of murdering a 77-year-old woman near Pollachi in Coimbatore district for financial gain.The arrested woman has been identified as N Saroja, 75, of Anbu Nagar in Pollachi. The victim, R Visalatchi, 77, was living alone at her house in Anbu Nagar. On Feb 21, Visalatchi’s son, Namachivayam, came to the house and found the front door locked from inside. Namachivayam looked through the window and saw his mother lying on a cot. As she did not respond, he entered the house and found her dead. He noticed that her gold ornaments were missing. He filed a complaint with the Pollachi West police.Police registered a case and formed a special team to investigate. Fingerprint experts, sniffer dog squad and forensic experts visited the scene and collected evidence. During inspections, cigarette butts, beedi pieces and an empty liquor bottle were found inside the house.Investigators examined more than 70 call detail records and footage from over 50 CCTV cameras in and around the locality. Their inquiry revealed that Saroja had visited the victim’s house. She was taken in for questioning, and her inconsistent statements raised suspicion. Police searched her house and recovered the missing gold ornaments. During interrogation, she confessed to murdering Visalatchi, police said.According to police, Saroja knew that Visalatchi had been living alone after the death of her younger son and planned to steal her jewellery. She had collected cigarette and beedi stubs and an empty liquor bottle from nearby places and placed them in the house to mislead investigators. On the day of the incident, she visited the victim’s house and demanded her jewellery, assaulted Visalatchi when she refused, murdered her by hitting her head to a wall and fled with 8.5 sovereigns of gold.Saroja was remanded in judicial custody.Coimbatore district superintended of police K Karthikeyan appreciated Pollachi deputy superintendent of police Naveen Kumar, inspector Chandramohan, sub-inspectors Pandiarajan, Stephen, Anandkumar and the police team for their dedicated efforts to arrest the culprit.
