Businessman from Telangana found dead in Kodaikanal bungalow

A 73-year-old man from Telangana was found dead in his house in Kodaikanal on Sunday.

Following information about the crime, the police rushed to the scene and conducted preliminary inquiry. The police gave the name of the victim as Suryanarayana, a businessman and native of Telangana, who owned a bungalow near Kurinji Andavar Temple Road here.

His daughter Vishnupriya married Ramesh Krishna a few years ago. They have two children. It is said, Ms. Vishnupriya acted in a Tamil film in 2018 as a differently-abled person and was popular in social media and other programmes since then.

Inquiries revealed that Ms. Vishnupriya had some differences with her husband and she allegedly had an affair with another man identified as Prabhakaran.

When Suryanarayana came to know about this, he allegedly got Prabhakaran murdered.

The police suspect that in a bid to avenge Prabhakaran’s murder, a gang murdered Suryanarayana. The gang barged into Suryanarayana’s bungalow in the early hours of Sunday. After tying two workers and Suryanarayana to three chairs, the gang gagged him with heavy duty packing tapes. The assailants fled the spot after he fainted. An assistant to Suryanarayana managed to remove the rope tied around his hands and alerted the neighbours. Suryanarayana, who was taken to the hospital, was declared dead by the doctors there. The body was sent to the Government Hospital for post-mortem.

Forensic experts visited the house and a sniffer dog was pressed into service.

An investigating officer said that the assailants may have observed Suryanarayana’s movements before attacking him. “We have started collecting evidence. We are hopeful of zeroing-in on the crime. When we secure the suspects, we will know the real motive,” he added.