Elderly pavement-dweller killed, teen arrested in Chennai

Chennai, Jan 30 (IANS) The Greater Chennai Police on Monday arrested a teenager on charges of murdering an old woman who lived on the pavement at Ennore here.

The woman who was living in the pavement for the past thirty years was found dead on January 25, and local people alerted police. Nearby residents and shop keepers said that the woman would be around eighty years of age.

Police sent the body for an autopsy which revealed that she had an injury behind her head that led to her death. On inspection of CCTV visuals, it was found that a youth was seen carrying her from the pavement.

With the help of local people, the youth was identified as Seeman (18) hailing from Eranavoor who was living with his grand mother.

During interrogation he told police that he was staying with his friends for the past one week after a quarrel with his grand mother and had left home.

He told police that he was drunk that night and while walking on the street, he found the old woman sleeping on the pavement. He gagged her and carried her from the pavement but the woman was crying for help.

Police said that he beat up the woman to silence her and in the process she died. The Ennore police will be conducting a forensic study on the body of the woman to understand whether sexual assault had taken place as Seeman was seen carrying her.

The accused was produced before a magistrate who remanded him to judicial custody.