CHENNAI: In a daylight murder for gain, unidentified men stabbed a 55-year-old woman to death inside her house and escaped with her 15 sovereigns of gold jewellery near Pulicat in Tiruvallur district on Monday afternoon. Police have launched a search for the assailants.The victim, Vanaja, 55, lived with her husband Radhakrishnan near the old bus stand in Pulicat. The couple’s three children — one son and two daughters — are all married and live elsewhere. Radhakrishnan runs a grocery shop near their house, while Vanaja sold flour from their home.According to police, Vanaja took tea to her husband at his grocery shop in the morning before returning home. When Radhakrishnan returned home in the afternoon, he found the house locked. On opening the door, he discovered his wife lying in a pool of blood with a fatal stab wound on her neck.Alerted by the husband’s cries, neighbours informed the Thirupalaivanam police, who rushed to the spot and began an investigation.Preliminary inquiries revealed that the suspects entered the house on the pretext of purchasing flour. They stabbed Vanaja in the neck, robbed about 15 sovereigns of gold jewellery, including her mangalsutra and gold earrings, locked the house from outside and fled.Fingerprint experts and a sniffer dog were pressed into service to collect evidence. The body was sent to the Ponneri Government Hospital for postmortem examination.Police have registered a case and are examining CCTV footage from the locality to identify and trace the culprits. Initial investigations suggest that it could be a handiwork of the gang, who had targeted the house after observing that the couple lived alone.
