‘Serial killer’ in TN gets life-term jail in two murder cases

Police are yet to file chargesheets for two other murders. Public prosecutor Savarimuthu, who argued for the police, said,

Serial killer Sappani being escorted out of court after the verdict in Tiruchy on Monday

TIRUCHY: The Tiruchy court on Monday convicted 43-year-old T Sappani in two murder cases and sentenced him to life imprisonment till death. Principal District Judge K Babu pronounced Sappani of Krishnasamuthiram guilty of the murders of M Thangadurai of Vengur and Sathiyanathan.

Sappani is accused of committing six other murders, including killing his father, between 2009 and 2016. A verdict on three murders is scheduled for August 9.

Police are yet to file chargesheets for two other murders. Public prosecutor Savarimuthu, who argued for the police, said, “The cases related to the murders of Thekkan, Vijay Victor and Kumaresan would be heard on August 9 as two cases.”

In 2016, Sappani was taken into custody by Thiruverumbur police in connection with the murder of M Thangadurai, aged 35. The body of Thangadurai was found in an agricultural land in Thiruverumbur and police said they grew suspicious of Sappani after tracing the mobile phone signal of the deceased.

R Mathan, who was the investigation officer then, said, “During interrogation, we were shocked to find out that Thangadurai was Sappani’s eighth victim. He committed all the murders, including that of his father’s, during various occasions and buried the bodies in various locations across his village.” Mathan said all the bodies were buried within 200 metres away from the murder spot.

In 2016, police exhumed the bodies of Sathiyanathan (50), Kumaresan (41), Thekkan (58), Vijay Victor (27) and Gokila (72), from various locations across Thiruverumbur. The body of one of the victims, Vijay Victor, was chopped into pieces, with one of his legs found in the forest area near the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchy. Police are yet to recover the bodies of two other victims - Periyasamy (75) and Arputhasamy (70).

According to police sources, all the murders were committed for gain. In total, Sappani took away 18 sovereigns of gold from the victims, said sources, adding he spent it extravagantly and had the habit of consuming liquor - for over a week or so - close to sites where the bodies were buried. As per Sappani’s statement, he killed his father Thekkan in 2015 “for being biased towards his brother’s children.”