The Missing Links :Original Case Happened in Chennai

The Coimbatore police are on the lookout for a 44-year-old lawyer who allegedly murdered a woman and obtained a death certificate in his wife 's name after faking the identity of his victim.

The lawyer, ET Rajavel from Kurichi Housing Unit phase II in SIDCO, was already wanted for the murder of a realtor R Manivel (47) and usurping his property using forged documents. Manivel's wife Ammasi (45), who had gone missing in Dec 2011 too, had been murdered by Rajavel, whom she had approached to get a share in her husband's property.

"While investigating Manivel's murder case, we got some vital clues about Rajavel's involvement in another murder. During the course of the probe, we found that Rajavel had also murdered Manivel's wife Ammasi from Sivanantha Colony, who had approached the lawyer to get a share in her husband's property," Coimbatore City Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan told reporters here on Monday.

Police said Rajavel's wife Mohana was involved in five cheating cases in Orissa, where she had swindled close to '12 crore through the multilevel marketing company Right Max' she was running.

To get the cases against Mohana closed, Rajavel planned to get a fake death certificate in her name. For this, the advocate murdered Ammasi and with her body, he obtained a death certificate in the name of Mohana. On December 11, 2011, the advocate had asked Ammasi to come to his office at Gopalapuram, where he, his driver Palanisamy and a friend Ponnarasu strangulated her with a saree and electric wire.

They then took the body to the advocate's house, where they enacted a drama that his wife Mohana had died. A few days before the incident, Rajavel had sent Mohana out of town.

The body was taken to the Attupalam electric crematorium, where it was burnt on December 12, 2011. After that, the advocate obtained a death certificate in Mohana's name from the Coimbatore City Corporation.

Ammasi's daughter Sakunthala had lodged a woman missing case with the Rathinapuri police on December 19, 2011.

However, Rajavel faced hurdles when he tried to sell away the property usurped from Manivel which was registered in Mohana's name. Hence, he and his wife, in April 2013, moved a city court to cancel the death certificate and remove Mohana's name from the Corporation death registry after declaring that she was alive.

"We will investigate whether the doctor who certified the death, the Corporation official who issued the death certificate and the person at the Attupalam electric crematorium had any role in this," Viswanathan added.

The Coimbatore City Police have arrested Rajavel's driver Palanisamy and his friend Ponraj @ Ponnarasu, who is the Kurichi area secretary of the VCK. A search has been launched to arrest Rajavel and Mohana.

A lawyer, suspected of murder and misappropriation, and his wife were arrested by the Kovalam Beach Police near Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala on Thursday. Two teams of the Coimbatore City Police had gone there to take custody of the couple who were found to be with two children.

According to police sources, E.T. Rajavel and Mohana stayed at various hotels at T. Nagar and Egmore in Chennai between December 1 and 3. Leaving their multi-utility vehicle near one of the hotels, they hired a car from a travel agency and left for Kovalam on Thursday.

A Coimbatore City Police team that was combing hotels and lodges in Chennai found the car and put the vehicle under surveillance. Rajavel had phoned one of his junior lawyers and directed him to take possession of the car. The junior lawyer was picked up by the police when he came to take the car. When questioned about Rajavel's whereabouts, he gave the name of a travel agency. The police obtained the mobile number of the driver who had taken Rajavel and his wife to Kerala.

Even as the police team called up the driver around 11.45 a.m. on Thursday to alert him about the fugitives, Rajavel suspected something amiss and tried to escape on foot. The driver chased him.

The Kovalam Beach Police personnel secured both of them. Upon questioning, the driver told the police that Rajavel was wanted on charges of murder. The Kovalam Beach Police detained Rajavel and immediately alerted their counterparts in Tamil Nadu. The Coimbatore City Police suspected Rajavel's hand in the murder of one of his clients, Ammasai (45) of Rathinapuri who went missing in 2011. He had allegedly killed her to pass her off as his wife Mohana, who was suspected to have involved in a Rs.12-crore multi-level marketing firm fraud. The police also suspected his involvement in the murder of Manivel, a realtor from Nanjundapuram Road in Ramanathapuram here and getting his 26 cents of land registered in the name of Mohana. Rajavel was also suspected to be involved in the disappearance of a retired government employee Visalakshi who went missing seven years ago. She was living alone and had 96 cents of land in her name at Nanjundapuram valued at crores.