The Evil Within

Note: This story is based on real-life incidents that happened in Kulithalai, Tamil Nadu.

October 19, 2004

KULITHALAI, KARUR DISTRICT

In Kulithalai, Karur district, Jothi Ramaligam was living with his wife Meenakshi. He was doing agriculture there, and his wife completed an MA and a B.Ed. She was working as a teacher at the nearby Panikampatti government school. Their lives were going very happily.

As usual that day, Ramalingam started doing his farming work, and his wife Meenakshi also went to school. No one is in the area without knowing her. If Meenakshi's teacher gets ready for school, then the time is 8:30 in the morning, and if she returns from school, then the time is 6:00 in the evening.

Like this, without seeing the clock, everyone will say the time. She will maintain punctuality at that perfect level. According to Meenakshi, she will leave the house for school and leave the school for the house. On that day also, she cooked the food for her husband Ramalingam, took food for her lunch, and went to school on her TVS50 bike.

The time is past 6 in the evening. but the teacher didn’t return home. Immediately, Ramalingam called the school. Since there were no mobile phones at that time. When he called the school, they said, She has already left."

Since it’s been past 6 and his wife didn’t return home, Ramalingam went directly to school, and he inquired of the watchman there. But the watchman said strongly that Meenakshi teacher had left already. Even though he went inside and searched the entire school and those who were in the office, including the headmaster and some teachers, like this, he inquired about everyone. Everyone said that Meenakshi teacher had already left.

Now Ramalingam didn’t know what to do. He returned in the same way he came to school from home, and when he returned, he enquired about everyone on the way. On his way to the school and his home, there is a railway crossing in Marudur.

He inquired about the person who worked at that gate.

The gateman said, "I saw Meenakshi teacher going to school in the morning, Ramalingam. But I didn’t see her returning in the evening."

Ramalingam, who was panicked because of this, made an U-turn and went to Mettumarudur, which is before the railway gate, and he inquired about his friend Tirupathi, who was running a fertiliser shop.

Now his friend Tirupathi said, "I saw Meenakshi da. She went to Kulithalai after school." Hearing this, Ramalingam was sure that she would come to Mettumarudur. From that fertiliser shop to his house, he asked all his friends and relatives to search for her, and he also searched for her. But even after searching everywhere, they couldn’t get any details about where Meenakshi went or what happened to her. The time is past 11 at night.

Without delaying, Ramalingam went to the police station and filed a complaint, and Inspector Adhithya filed a FIR within thirty minutes and started searching for her. They also investigated all the places. But other than the things known by Ramalingam, Adhithya couldn’t find any new things. The next day, Adhithya and his team couldn’t find Meenakshi.

It’s been two days and one week, and the days passed like this. But there’s no information about Meenakshi. When Adhithya was investigating, Ramalingam also went there to see if there was any improvement.

One day, when he went to inquire, Inspector Adhithya said, "Sir. Be calm. A lot of big people are involved in this, and even the ex-MLA of the ruling party was involved in this."

Ramalingam was shocked to hear this and didn’t know what to do. He was sad to think about what he could do against the ruling party.

"What is the relationship between me and the politicians?" He didn’t know how the politicians were involved in his wife’s missing case.

Ramalingam became silent after a few days. Since he cannot do anything against the ruling party. But the media was not silent about this matter. All the media wrote that the ruling party's ex-MLA and his son were involved in this case.

Due to this, the whole state of Tamil Nadu was shocked, and it turned into a big headache for the ruling party. But in the investigation, the police came to know that the ruling party's ex-MLA and his son are not involved in this case.

Adhithya said this to Ramalingam because of his frequent inquiries about the case. To stop him from coming to the station and disturbing them, he used politicians as a reason. After knowing this, higher officials gave him a severe warning.

When this case was going like this, a few days later, information came from Bangalore that they had found Meenakshi teacher. Immediately, Ramalingam, Inspector Adhithya, and the police team went there, and in Bangalore, they showed a dead body as Meenakshi.

Now Adhithya called Ramalingam and asked him to identify the body. He went near the body in fear and panic. But after seeing the body, he was a bit relaxed. Since it was not his wife's Meenakshi teacher. It was the body of some other woman who was Meenakshi’s age and look.

Seeing this and believing that she would be alive somewhere, Ramalingam came back to his native land.

TWO YEARS LATER

2006

Like this, the years passed, and in 2006, the ruling party was changed. Ramalingam expected that something would change if the ruling party changed. But no changes were made like he expected, and the case didn’t show any improvement like the stone in the well.

Due to this, Ramalingam filed a habeas corpus petition in the Madurai High Court, and the judges who investigated this habeas corpus petition said: There's been no improvement in this missing government teacher’s case for 1.5 years. Hence, I am handing over to CB CID."

The CB CID also started investigating this case seriously. From Tirupati’s fertiliser shop to Meenakshi's teacher’s house, they investigated every place and searched everywhere. The small roads and forest roads that divide from that road, like this, were searched and investigated everywhere, and the CBCID even got down in the well they suspected and searched for Meenakshi teacher’s body or her TVS50. But they also didn’t get any evidence.

Ramalingam also began to lose hope.

June 22, 2006

Meanwhile, in a place called Rajendran Garden, the owner decided to plant new plantains on his plantain farm. He was digging a pit with three members. When they were digging, they found something different. They thought it was treasure and started digging faster. But there they got a skeleton and not a treasure.

They were astounded and informed the owner. But the owner, who was frightened by the skeleton, asked them to bury the skeleton in different places. Since he said this to the police, he would have to go to the police station and court. Not only that, he feared that they would suspect him.

FOUR DAYS LATER

June 26, 2006

Meanwhile, a VAO officer came to the village. Seeing VAO, Rajendran was frightened and thought that he had come there to inquire about the skeleton. They talked about the skeleton they saw four days before.

VAO came there to collect tax, but hearing the news, he was shocked. He immediately informed Tahsildar about it. After he came, this was informed to the police, and Adhithya, who came there, saw a damaged sari and inner wear on the skeleton, and they realised that it belonged to a girl. He checked all the women's missing cases recorded at their station.

At the same time, Adhithya did the postmortem on the spot with the help of doctors. He found that the skeleton belongs to a 30- to 35-year-old woman, and immediately he remembered Meenakshi's teacher. Because in his station, she was the only one at that age on the missing women’s list.

However, for the detailed autopsy, the skeleton was brought to the Trichy GH. At the same time, Adhithya and the CB CID informed Ramalingam and asked him to come there. As soon as he came, they showed him a green sari, which was above the skeleton. Seeing this, he started crying.

"Yes. This is my wife, Meenakshi, sir. On the day she went missing, she was wearing a green sari." Not only that, he said that the silver ring and the silver anklet were hers. The DNA report and autopsy report confirmed that the skeleton belongs to Meenakshi's teacher.

The DNA 100% matched Meenakshi's teacher’s parents DNA. Adhithya came to know that she had been raped and murdered. The case, which was like a stone in the well for 1.5 years, has now started moving fast like a rabbit.

Now Adhithya investigated who came often to the Rajendran Garden and took a big list of who came to work there for the last two years. He called and investigated everyone individually, and he didn’t leave anyone.

When Adhithya was investigating, he got suspicious of a person named Shanmugavel. When the police investigated, he said, "I have nothing to do with the case."

The police investigation is not only investigating them. (If they are suspicious of anyone, they will start watching them secretly.)

Adhithya suspected Shanmugavel. Since he didn’t go to any jobs in the last two years. But he was spending lavishly, even though he didn’t go to any jobs. When Adhithya investigated Shanmugavel in the village, he came to know that he had bought new jewels for his wife.

Again, he called Shanmugavel for an investigation. But he said that he is out of town and can’t come now. At the same time, Adhithya got the information that he was in Kulithalai farmer’s market.

Immediately, Adhithya went there, arrested Shanmugavela, and started the investigation.

"Sir. I didn’t know anything about this. Please leave me."

"Then how did you get this much money? How is it possible for you to get jewels for your wife?" Staring at him with a cool smile, Adhithya said, "Shanmugavel. It’s good if you tell the truth. Or else. Constable!" Adhithya turned back fiercely and looked at the police stick.

"My style of investigation will be very different. Not in typical police interrogation style." Fearing the beatings, Shanmugavel accepted that he was the killer.

When he said it, Shanmugavel said, "Yes sir. We only killed her."

Since he said we instead of I, Adhithya started investigating who else is involved in this.

Shanmugavel said, "Sir. I raped and killed Meenakshi teacher with my friend Kumar." Immediately, Adhithya arrested Kumar and got confessions from both of them. On the day of the incident, they started telling what happened to Meenakshi's teacher.

TWO YEARS BACK

OCTOBER 2004

Shanmugavel, who belongs to Kulithalai Bharathi Nagar, and Kumar, from Marudur, were friends. Both of them were going for construction work, and when they didn’t have work, they would sell liquor, and they had a habit of drinking regularly.

Meenakshi teacher’s house was near Shanmugavel’s father-in-law's house. Whenever he goes to his father-in-law’s house, he sees Meenakshi teacher. When he saw her, he noticed that she was wearing a lot of jewellery. Since she was beautiful, he had affection for her.

When it was like this, one day, Shanmugavel and Kumar were blabbering that they didn’t have money for drinking.

"I have an idea, Kumar," said Shanmugavel.

"What’s that da?" asked Kumar, to which Shanmugavel said: "That Meenakshi will be wearing a lot of jewels, and I know all the details of when she will go to school and return. We can steal the jewels from her."

For this, they made a perfect plan. On the way to school, there’s a place called Rajendran Garden, and they noticed that there was no human traffic. Shanmugavel and Kumar decided to rob Meenakshi teacher there.

October 19, 2004

On the day of the incident, as usual, Meenakshi teacher went to school, and in the evening, she was returning from the school in her TVS50. After crossing the Tirupati Fertiliser Shop on the way to her house, when she came to Rajendran Garden, suddenly a coconut branch fell on her. Due to this, she collapsed and fell.

Meenakshi teacher was separated from her bike, and immediately a person ran towards her. And from the back, another person ran towards her. The teacher thought that they were coming to help her. But she didn’t know that they were the reason she fell down.

The people who ran towards her were Shanmugavel and Kumar. At that time, when the teacher came from school, they went to Rajendran Garden as planned.

Kumar was standing and noticing whether the teacher was coming, and Shanmugavel took a coconut branch in his hand and was cutting it with a knife for others not to suspect him. Like they thought, Meenakshi's teacher also came there at the correct time in her TVS50.

Seeing that, Kumar gave a signal to Shanmugavel, and when the teacher came near, he put the branch on her. Since suddenly something fell on her, she collapsed and fell down. Now both of them took Meenakshi's teacher’s sari, pressed it in her mouth, and dragged her to the nearby plantain farm.

When they dragged her inside the plantation farm, the two took all the jewels from her ears, neck, and hands. Shanmugavel and Kumar left only the silver ring in her hand and the silver anklet on her leg. Other than that, they took all the gold jewels. Their plan was to take the jewels and escape from there.

In that plan, Kumar felt distracted by seeing Meenakshi teacher.

"Hey Shanmugam. Why should we leave Meenakshi like this? She is very beautiful, right?" Kumar said to him

When Meenakshi teacher was struggling to breathe because of the sari in her mouth and when she was struggling to escape from them, at the same time, Kumar took off his dresses and came near a frightened teacher. By removing her innerwear and bikini, he made her completely naked so that she wouldn’t scream for anyone’s help.

Now, Kumar started raping Meenakshi teacher, and seeing this, Shanmugavel, who already has a crush on her, also wished for her. Next, he started raping her, and both of them satisfied their lust.

However, they started to fear what to do next.

"Hey Kumar. If we leave the teacher like this, she will say to the police that we were the ones to rape and rob her. Because she knew me very well. So it’s dangerous to leave her alive." He looked at Meenakshi's teacher.

With the knife Shanmugavel had in his hand to cut the coconut branch, he sat upon Meenakshi teacher’s body, and when she was unconscious, they slit her neck and killed her.

PRESENT

At present, Adhithya is shocked to hear these confessions. He was very angry with the duo. Controlling his anger, he stared at Kumar and Shanmugavel.

"After that, what happened?" Adhithya asked in a lower-voice tone.

"After that, we dug a three-foot pit and buried her there, sir. We were ready to leave, thinking that everything was over. But we thought about Meenakshi teacher’s TVS50. If anyone saw the bike, they will start searching here, and they will find that something happened to the teacher." Shanmugavel said.

After he confessed, Kumar said, "Sir. We thought of what to do next, and a little far away from there, in a well that will have water every time, we put that TVS50 inside it and escaped from there, sir."

At the same time they were doing all this, Ramalingam was searching for his wife everywhere on the road. But at that time, he didn’t know that all this had happened to his wife just a little while earlier. Both of them were quite for some days after the murder.

When Shanmugavel and Kumar saw that the police were going in another direction without coming to them, without any fear of the jewels they robbed, they sold everything and started to spend it happily.

They further melted some jewels and gave them to their wives, who enjoyed them. When the police were roaming in Bangalore and dealing with ex-MLAs, Shanmugavel and Kumar were roaming happily in their area without going anywhere.

Meanwhile, Adhithya met a 20-year-old Rahul in the same village after he contacted him about something very important. He said to him, "Sir. A few hours before the incident, I saw Shanmugavel and Kumar in Rajendran Garden. When Meenakshi teacher went missing, I doubted them and inquired. But when I inquired, they threatened to kill me."

Now, after getting the confession, Adhithya took the jewels and the TVS50. Totally 71 witnesses were investigated, and on March 23, 2007, the court gave a life sentence to both of them, and they were put in Trichy Central jail. The years passed by, and Kumar didn’t feel any guilt.

But Shanmugavel was stressed. Since he came to jail after getting a life sentence, no one in his family came to see him. At one stage, he decided not to stay there hereafter. Usually prisoners will be let out of the cell at 6 in the morning, and at that time they will wash, bathe, and eat.

At evening, after the roll call, they will be put back in the cell, and on September 17, 2014, as usual, jailers opened the cell and let the prisoners out, and at evening, they finished taking the roll calls. Shanmugavel was also there. But after the roll call, when everyone went to the cell, he escaped from there.

(Roll call is nothing but taking attendance.) (They will send it to the cell after checking everyone’s there.)

In school, if our classmates are missing, we will search, right? Like that, his inmates were searching for him, and immediately they informed the warden, and this news spread throughout the jail, and everyone started searching for him.

While searching, a convict found a peepal tree near his block and got shocked. Alerting other inmates and the jail warden, they went near the tree. In that tree, using his blanket, Shanmugavel committed suicide.

When he decided not to stay there, it was not in jail. (He decided not to stay in the whole world.)

In the morning itself, he hid his blanket inside the bathroom, and in the evening, after the roll call, he escaped without telling others, and without going to the cell, Shanmugavel decided to get to the mud and go to the tree.

EPILOGUE

If you ask me why I am talking like this about a 62-year-old person, respect should be given according to their behaviour and not their age. Did Shanmugavel behave like that? He planned to rob for drinking, and not only that, he and his friend Kumar raped Meenakshi teacher and even murdered her. So no one is going to be sad about Shanmugavel. But I felt bad, and what does that mean? Kumar didn’t get stressed like him. And if he got stressed, he might have also taken a good decision.

So readers. What do you think about this story? What do you think about the reason behind this crime? Do you think that the reason for this is because Meenakshi teacher wore a lot of jewellery? Or the drug lovers who were drinking like it was their job. Is their drinking habit the reason for it? Or is it the government’s mistake to open a liquor shop and give a target sale? Even though girls like jewels, and even though they are within walking distance of their house when wearing a lot of jewels, it is still dangerous for women to go alone. Since there are four cousin sisters for me, I very well realise the pains and sufferings of women.