A 26-year-old nurse was allegedly killed by her colleague in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district, with police suspecting that he murdered her to steal her gold chain. The accused, S Saravanan, 23, was arrested on October 19. Uthra used to live with her husband, Ranjith Kumar, 27, in Pallagoundampalayam in Tiruppur district. The victim, R Uthra, worked at a private hospital. Her body was found near the Vijayamangalam toll plaza on October 17, three days after she went missing.
Police recovered Uthra’s body from Pon Kailash Nagar, near the Vijayamangalam toll plaza. According to The New Indian Express, her husband reportedly attempted suicide on the night her body was recovered. He was later reported to be out of danger and discharged from hospital.
Uthra, who comes from Poonkulam near Mudukulathur district, worked as a nurse in a private hospital. Her husband, Kumar, usually used to pick her up from the hospital. On October 14, her husband, Ranjith Kumar, went to the hospital to look for her but was told that she had already left for home.
When he returned home and could not find her, he filed a missing-person complaint at the Uthukuli police station in Tiruppur district.
Police initially registered a missing-person case following the complaint. After Uthra’s body was recovered and identified, Perundurai police investigated the death as a murder.
Three days later, police found Uthra’s body near the Vijayamangalam toll plaza in a decomposed state.
Her jewellery was missing from the spot where her body was found. The police began investigating the death and looked into whether it was a robbery case. The police set up a special team to investigate the case further.
Police have labelled Saravanan a suspect. He worked in the same hospital as Uthra. He is from Andipalayam in Tiruppur and was living in Perundurai in Erode district. He had also been working in the same hospital as Uthra as a member of the nursing staff for around nine months. Uthra had been working at the hospital since October 3. Saravanan had reportedly worked there for around nine months. He was also pursuing a nursing assistant course at Government Medical College Hospital in Perundurai.
The investigating team examined CCTV cameras for further leads and found that Uthra had travelled with Saravanan on his two-wheeler.
According to police, Saravanan admitted to killing Uthra and robbing her jewellery during custodial interrogation.
According to the police investigation, Saravanan offered to drop Uthra near Vijayamangalam while he was heading towards Perundurai. He allegedly took her to an isolated spot and strangled her to death, then fled with her gold jewellery. Her body was found near the toll plaza on October 17.
According to The New Indian Express, police said Saravanan stopped his two-wheeler near an isolated spot close to the toll plaza, strangled Uthra and fled with her jewellery.
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According to the suspect’s questioning and the investigation, police have established robbery as the main motive behind the killing of Uthra.
Saravanan allegedly took Uthra’s four-sovereign gold thali chain, a traditional necklace worn by married women.
The robbed jewellery was recovered by police. According to a police statement, Saravanan was presented before the court.
The court has remanded him to judicial custody; the case remains under investigation, and allegations against Saravanan have not been proven in court yet.
(Rh/AM/MSM/2VMSM)