The Chennai police on Thursday arrested two youth and one juvenile in the case of the murder of 67-year-old oncologist Dr Rohini Premkumar. The trio was arrested from Uthukottai in Thiruvallur district.

The police said that the three had worked in the oncologist's house to fix tiles in the garden and were aware that two elderly people lived in the house on Gandhi Irwin Road in Egmore.

The police commissioner Ashutosh Shukla told The New Indian Express, "The accused, Raja (21), Hari(20) and a minor boy had come to steal valuables. When the doctor saw them, a scuffle broke out. They throttled and killed her," he said.

During the initial investigation, the police said that no valuables were stolen from the house but later they confirmed that four-and-a-half sovereigns of gold and a mobile phone was stolen. The police had also pursued the property dispute angle.

Police stated that no property documents were stolen and claimed that they were in the safe custody of the owner. Police has recovered the stolen jewellery and said that one of them was also involved in another case of theft.

The three accused are school drop-outs doing unskilled jobs.

On the night of May 7, Rohini Premkumar was found dead by her relative Parasuraman in the garden with both her limbs tied. Rohini and her mother were living together in the house at Gandhi Irwin Road in Egmore. 

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