The Coimbatore city police formed five special teams to arrest the accused who had murdered N. Saroja, 54, who lived in a flat (C-005) at an apartment in Raheja Centre on Avinashi Road along with her husband Natarajan, 58, and her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
One of the five teams got a definite clue that the accused, J. Yasser Arafat (23), was hiding in a hotel at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. He was caught on Saturday early morning from the lodge and is being brought to the city.
After Saroja went missing on February 13, the family lodged a complaint with the Race Course police on February 16. Though the police visited the apartment, they could not trace her.
As stench started emanating from flat C-002 on February 21, where Yasser had been residing, the residents informed the police, who rushed to the flat and broke open the door. Saroja was found murdered, her body chopped into pieces and packed in two suitcases. The bags were plastered with wet cement. Yasser had by then escaped.
According to cop A.K. Viswanathan, “Yasser was nabbed in the lodge and he confessed to the crime. He had stolen 12 sovereigns from the deceased and pledged them in his native place Tirunelveli.”
A police source informed that the accused planned to commit suicide three days ago but could not hang himself.