Driver kills couple and buries them in a pit; bodies exhumed

A couple arrived here from the US in the early hours of Saturday to be received by their long-time driver-cum-domestic help at the airport, who, hours later, allegedly beat them to death and buried their bodies at the family’s farmhouse on the outskirts of the city.

The driver, a Nepali national who was working with them for over a decade, is understood to have pre-planned the murder and was waiting for them to return from the US to steal their money and jewels, police said.

Srikanth (60), a businessman, and his wife Sunantha (55) had been to the US to visit their son Shashant. The accused Lal Krishna, who used a stick to beat the couple to death at their residence in Mylapore, carried their bodies in the car owned by Srikanth and buried them in a pit that he had dug already in the sprawling farmhouse that the family owns in Nemilichery on the East Coast Road.

The bodies were exhumed from the farmhouse on Sunday in the presence of officials from the Chengalpattu district administration.

“After murdering them and burying their bodies, he escaped from Chennai. Using various methods, we could trace his location and arrested him from Ongole in Andhra Pradesh. He has confessed that he used a stick to beat them. Further investigation is on,” N Kannan, Additional Commissioner, (L&O), South, Chennai Police said.

He said eight kg gold worth Rs 5 crore was recovered from Krishna and his friend who helped him execute the murder. The murder came to light when Shashant failed to reach his parents over the phone and informed his relative, who lives in Adyar, to check on them.

After landing in Chennai, the couple spoke to their son over the phone and informed him that Krishna has come. The son called Krishna at around 8 am, after failing to reach his parents to which he replied they were sleeping.

“However, Shashant suspected there was something amiss after Krishna began contradicting his statement when he called a few hours later. The son informed their relative to check on his parents. The relative found the car missing and the house was locked and informed the police. When we didn’t find the couple inside, we only thought they were abducted,” Kannan said.

The senior police officer added that they were approaching the case from the abduction angle till they reached Srikanth’s farmhouse. “We found a just-closed pit and that is when we realised the couple could have been murdered. We think he had dug the pit before murdering them and just closed it after dumping their bodies inside. It does not like he dug the pit after the murder,” he added.