Chennai: In a twist to the sensational murder of a neurosurgeon in 2013, one of the accused P.Iyyapan, turned approver before the court on Tuesday, claiming he was “pricked by his conscience” over the murder.
Iyappan, deposing before the First Additional Sessions Court on Tuesday, said he and his associates Murugan and Selvaprakash on September 14, 2013, hacked 59-year-old neurologist SD Subbiah to death when he came out of his hospital in RA Puram.
Subbiah, a resident of Thoraipakkam, retired as professor of neurology from the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in July and was employed as a consultant in a private hospital on 2nd main road, RA Puram.
Iyyapan, who was one of the accused in the murder case, said they waited on a motorcycle behind the victim’s car on the day of the murder and fled the scene after committing the crime, he added. On why he chose to confess, Iyappan said he was ‘pricked by his conscience’ that a life-saving doctor was murdered for gain.
According to Iyappan, a dispute over a land in Anjugramam village in Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district between the doctor and Anna Pazham led to the crime.
According to Shanthi, the doctor’s wife, Subbiah inherited the property worth crores of rupees in Nagercoil from his maternal uncle. However, Anna Pazham, who claimed to be related, was fighting for the property and that Anna Pazham’s grandchildren had decided to do away with Subbiah. They tried hard to snatch the property.
They did many misdeeds. Since the truth was on our side we lodged an FIR. Angered by this, the very next day, the attack was carried out on Dr Subbiah.
Also, Iyappan said he was told by Murugan just before the murder that each one of them would be paid Rs 50 lakh for executing the crime and get a job in a foreign country.
