TUTICORIN: A case of suspicious death has turned out to be a murder as the victim had deceived the accused by impersonating as a woman on Facebook, forced him into a homosexual relationship and threatened to share their intimate pictures with his family.
Police have identified the deceased as P Murugan, 28, of Mela Eral village in Tuticorin district. Murugan, who was a Class X dropout, worked with his father in their field. On September 15, his body was found in bushes in Melakaranthai village with an injury on his head. The Masarpatti police registered a case of suspicious death under Section 174 of the CrPC and sent the body for postmortem.
Police, who checked CCTV footages from Ettayapuram, saw another man accompanying Murugan on September 14. Going through his call details, police came to know that he frequently spoke to a man, identified as M Murugan, 24, of Dhamaal in Kancheepuram district. He worked in a car accessories manufacturing company.
Police said the man from Tuticorin impersonated a woman and befriended the Kancheepuram man on Facebook two years ago. They started talking over phone in which the impersonator had used an app to change his voice.
A shock awaited the Kancheepuram man when he met his virtual lover on the occasion of Valentine’s Day (February 14) at the Mattuthavani bus stand in Madurai. As an argument broke out, the Kancheepuram man was pacified by P Murugan. The latter also convinced him to have a homosexual relationship that day and secretly clicked the pictures. Disgusted over the turn of events, M Murugan abandoned his mobile number and got a new one, but the impersonator managed to get hold of it.
He then threatened the Kancheepuram man to marry him, failing which he would share the pictures of their relationship with his family. On September 14, M Murugan came to Ettayapuram to meet the impersonator and requested him to delete the content.
They went to Melakaranthai to consume alcohol where the accused laced the victim’s drink with poison and killed him by crushing his head with a stone.
The case was altered as murder. The accused was produced before the Vilathikulam judicial magistrate and remanded.
