Chennai: A 35-year-old cinema stunt artiste was arrested by the police for allegedly murdering the husband of his sister-in-law in Mahabalipuram. The arrested artiste was identified as Dilli Babu of Uthandi, off East Coast Road. He allegedly murdered Karthik (27), a fisherman of Venpurusham village near Mahabalipuram, to win back the latter’s wife. Karthik had married Rangeela (23), a cousin of Dilli Babu’s wife Ranjitha. The wedding of Karthik and Rangeela took place in September 2015. As Rangeela’s mother had passed away and her father had deserted her, she was under the care of Dilli Babu, who took all efforts to get her married.
Karthik had disappeared on October 8 and his brother Sathish had lodged a complaint with the Mahabalipuram police two days later. The Police picked up Dilli Babu on Thursday after circumstantial evidence indicated that the he could have murdered Karthik. During interrogation, he admitted to having killed Karthik. “Dill Babu and his friends took Karthik on October 8 to a drinking session and later murdered him. His body was buried on the Palar riverbed at Kuppathurai near Madhurantthagam. We will exhume the body on Saturday,” the police said. Dilli Babu claimed that he had decided to murder Karthik because he was demanding dowry after marriage. But Karthik’s family had a different version to tell to the police.
“Dilli Babu was insisting that we should send Rangeela back to his house saying that she had brought bad luck to our family. The two had an illicit affair and the marriage was just eyewash,” Sathish told the police. Investigators believe that the Dilli Babu murdered Karthik so that Rangeela would come back to his house. Karthik’s family believes that Rangeela was also aware of the murder plan executed by Dilli Babu.
