CHENNAI: A 78-year-old man reported missing from Valasaravakkam on Thursday may have been murdered, stuffed into a barrel and buried in Ranipet by his son, police said on Friday. Police are hunting for the son and plan to search a plot of land he owns in Ranipet district for the father's body.
His daughter, Kanchana Mala, told police that T Kumaresan, a retired central government employee, living in Thandavamoorthy Nagar, Valasaravakkam, was missing when she returned after visiting her late husband's family in Mandaveli. She had been away since May 15 and returned on Thursday to find the house locked. Her father's phone was switched off.
Her brother, Gunasekaran, an electrical engineer who lives on the first floor of the house with his family, told her that he had not seen their father for a couple of days and joined her in the search.
Even as the two were searching for their father near Vadapalani, Gunasekaran went missing around 8pm and switched off his mobile phone. Kanchana Mala grew suspicious and broke open the door of the house with the help of her neighbours. She called the police when she saw bloodstains on a bed sheet. Forensic experts and a sniffer dog were brought to the spot. Gunasekaran's wife told police he had visited a friend, Venkatesan, in Kaveripakkam in Ranipet on Wednesday morning stating that he had some important work. "He went with Venkatesan to the 25 cents of land which he had bought along with a shop, where he had planned to set up a tiles showroom in Ranipet," said an investigating officer.
Quoting eyewitnesses, police said, Gunasekaran had driven a mini van loaded with a plastic barrel covered with cloth and a shovel. After reaching the land, Gunasekaran told Venkatesan to leave the place saying he wanted to clean the space to bury certain items to ward off evil for good business prospects. "With the help of a local worker, he carried the barrel and dug a pit, to bury it," said the officer.
Police suspect Kumaresan's body was in the barrel. Valasaravakkam police went to Ranipet to exhume the body, but had to wait till Saturday as the local officials were unavailable on Friday.
