CHENNAI: Senior bank officer R Seethalakshmi (52) aka Aruna on Monday joined a growing list of women living alone, who have fallen prey to killers, robbers and chain-snatchers prowling the city looking to make easy money. She was strangulated to death within the sight of her elder sister in the bedroom of their house in Nungambakkam.While a senior police officer at the scene of crime claimed that the killer’s profile resembled that of a “professional offender” and an “ex-convict” and that they had “cornered the accused”, the grim fact is that the bank officer is the fifth woman victim murdered for gain in the last seven months.Before her, two elderly sisters Jayalakshmi (60) and Kamakshi (55) of Kothandaramar Koil Street in West Mambalam, 70-year-old L Parameswari of Bharadeeswarar Colony in Kodambakkam and L Ranjitham (38) of Jai Balaji Nagar Extension, Nesapakkam, had been similarly murdered. CoP J K Tripathy recently announced that a homicide investigation wing would be set up in January to investigate the murders.A common thread linking a majority of these women victims was the fact that they led reclusive lives, making them sitting ducks for criminals. That was the case with the latest victim, Seethalakshmi alias Aruna as well. An officer with Indian Bank, she lived alone in the large residential premises, comprising two independent houses, from Monday to Friday. Her elder sister R Prabhavati (54), deputy manager of Punjab National Bank, Puducherry, dropped in over the weekend.Neighbours told Express that the family had been residing in the house on Kamdar Nagar, Mahalingapuram, for about 40 years. The sisters’ father C K B Rajan had passed away several years ago, while their mother Rajalakshmi died in a domestic fire accident in 2006. “While their mother mingled with us freely, the sisters led a reclusive life,” they said.Aruna and Prabhavati occupied the first building, renting out the second one. Four months ago, on noticing water seepage, they decided to renovate their home and asked the tenant to vacate and moved into that house. They lived on the ground floor and locked up the first floor rooms. “The tenant had removed the air-conditioning unit from the guest bedroom and the sisters boarded it with a plywood panel,” a neighbour said. The move turned out to be fatal, as it was through this AC duct that the killer entered the house after removing the panel in the wee hours of Monday. Ironically, the cops too had to take the same route when Prabhavati rushed out after the attack on her sister to call neighbours and police for help, locking the automatic front door behind her. However, all efforts to save her sister proved futile. Aruna choked to death after being strangled by the killer. “It was all over in five minutes,” Prabhavati said.
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