Sahaya Novinston Lobo By Express News Service CHENNAI: Residents of Madurantakam woke up to a foul smell on Wednesday morning. It was emanating from a dry well near the Chennai-Tiruchy highway. Police were alerted. They found a woman’s corpse wrapped in a plastic bag dumped in the well. The body had decomposed. Unable to identify the person, the cops started checking the records for missing complaints filed in the last few days. On Monday, 45-year-old Alphonse Mary, who was living at Royapettah, went to the Foreshore Estate to buy fish. She did not return home. Her husband Irudayanathan had filed a complaint with Ice House police. This case was noticed by Madurantakam police, who wanted the details to be cross-verified. Irudayanathan confirmed the body found in the well was that of Mary. An autopsy was conducted, which detected a severe injury on the head. Troubled past Alphonse Mary lived in Begum Sahib street. She was running a tiny eatery in the neighbourhood, but her main business was usury. Cops investigating the case heard reports of Mary threatening her neighbours who had taken loans from her. She had demanded exorbitant interest rates. One of the last people Mary had contacted before going missing was Devi, one of her neighbours. However, Devi denied that she met Mary on Monday. Officers then checked the visuals recorded on the nearby CCTV cameras. They found Mary going into Devi’s house, but she did not return. She had not been seen since then. On further investigation, police found that Devi and her husband Mani had borrowed Rs 20,000 from Mary. This breakthrough helped the police crack the case. The plot It was not just Devi and Mani. Another neighbour Valli had borrowed Rs 60,000 from Mary. The trio claimed that despite repaying the full amount, Mary kept demanding more money. She had threatened to send goons to destroy their business if they did not pay up. The trio then hatched a plot to eliminate her. On Monday, they called her to Devi’s house. “Once she entered, Mani hit her on the head with an iron rod. He then pressed a pillow on to her face while Devi and Valli held her limbs. After killing Mary, Mani called his friend and auto driver Suresh. He sought his help to dispose the body. “They put her body in a plastic bag and left in the auto for Madurantakam after nightfall,” an officer said. They removed her jewellery and dumped the body in the dry well. They sold her jewellery for Rs 1.20 lakh and shared the money between them. All four accused have been arrested. Locals say Mary and her husband moved to Chennai from Sivaganga in 1994. “Irudayanathan was working in a printing press. Mary had an eatery, but her main business was money lending,” a neighbour told Express. “She often threatened and harassed people who borrowed money from her.”

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