A 28-year-old man was today arrested here after he "confessed" to a friend while being drunk that he had murdered an octogenarian woman whom the bereaved family believed to have died of natural causes, police said.
83-year-old Padmavathi, mother of a DMK city corporation councillor, was found dead on July 17, and her family members thought she had died of old age and cremated her.
However, Kannan, a local resident, informed the bereaved family that his friend Kannadasan, who lived opposite to their house, had confessed to having killed Padmavathi by suffocating her.
Kannadasan stole 17 sovereign jewellery after killing the elderly woman. He disclosed this when he was consuming liqour with Kannan, police said.
Following this, the family alerted the police who swiftly arrested Kannadasan. Preliminary probe revealed that the man decided to finish off the woman to rob her jewellery to settle loans he had taken. Further investigation was on, they added.
