Coimbatore police on Friday, December 17, arrested a 44-year-old man for allegedly murdering a 15-year-old minor girl in Saravanampatti of Coimbatore on December 11. The police retrieved the body of the missing girl on Thursday, which was allegedly discarded by the accused in a gunny bag. The body was found with the hands and legs tied up.
According to the police, the accused Muthukumar (44), a mason, had been friends with the deceased’s mother for more than three years. He had allegedly taken a few gold ornaments from the family for repairing and pledging in return for cash. According to the police, he owes the family Rs 40,000. Since he did not return the ornaments to the family, frequent arguments broke out between him and them, said the police.
Speaking to TNM, Deputy Commissioner of Coimbatore South, Uma, said, "Muthukumar had been the caretaker of the family for the past four years. And during certain financial difficulties, he had pledged gold ornaments of the family and gotten them cash for interest in return.Through inquiry, it was found that Muthukumar had failed to return a few gold ornaments and cash of Rs 40,000 to the family, which led to misunderstandings and arguments between them."
Explaining what led to the murder of the minor girl, the DC added that when the mother went out of town for a few days, the accused allegedly convinced the minor girl to lie to her mother that he had returned the ornaments.
“When the mother was out of town, Muthukumar had called the minor girl home and decided to murder her and take all the ornaments. He planned on telling the mother that her daughter had eloped along with the ornaments,” said the DC.
Muthukumar allegedly murdered the girl at his residence and disposed of the body at an under construction site.
Police said that the inquiry is still underway and that they are awaiting the postmortem reports to ascertain if the minor was sexually harassed by the accused.
Cases have been registered under Sections 308, 301 and 302 of the IPC.