[Sensbachtal]

Wednesday November 17, 2010

Murder suspects believed to be hiding in Malaysia

CHENNAI: Three Indian nationals, who were among 20 people quizzed in connection with the murder of a Malaysian woman and her two children last week, are believed to have slipped into Malaysia. Tamil Nadu police believe the trio, in their 30s, had left for Kuala Lumpur on Nov 12 on a Jet Airways flight.

One of them is believed to be in possession of a Malaysian identity card and had stayed in Malaysia previously. The fugitives are wanted in connection with the murder of housewife M. Adhila Banu, 24, and her children, Ajira Banu, five, and Mohd Aslam, seven. The victims were strangled and their bodies dumped in a swollen canal in Vadipatti, Madurai, about 160km from their house, on Nov 8.

“We suspect these (killings) are the work of hired killers and have seized a Scorpio (four-wheel-drive vehicle) which we suspect was used in the events leading to the murders,” Vadipatti police inspector P.R. Lakshmanan told Bernama yesterday. On Nov 8, Adhila Banu, accompanied by her children, had gone to a nearby sundry shop in her village, Barathi Nagar, to buy cooking gas when they were believed to have been kidnapped. Three days later, the police discovered their decomposed bodies.

According to police investigations, a gang had earlier demanded 250,000 Indian rupees (about RM17,000) from the victim’s family, who refused to pay.Now the police are piecing together sketchy clues, giving a new twist to the murders. According to investigators, Adhila was ostracised by the village panchayat (committee) for several years after she married a man from a different religion.

Thus, the money (250,000 Indian rupees) was to settle the dispute so that she could return to her native village with her children. Adhila had been staying in Malaysia with her husband, an Indian national with Malaysian permanent resident status, and returned to her native village about a month ago to visit her mother. Her husband, Muthusamy alias Mohammad, was last known to be working as a driver in Malaysia.