Fridge repair man prime suspect in elderly priest killing

A refrigerator repair man and his two associates entered the flat of an 89-year-old priest, strangulated him and injured his 86-year-old wife on Tuesday. They ran away with four gold bangles and a gold chain.The couple lived in the two-storey flat at Krishna Vilas building near Chembur Post office.

Rajamma is distraught as she sits in her flat narrating the incident. “When the door bell rang, Parshurman Vadiyar, opened the door and allowed the fridge repair man inside the house. His two associates too forcibly entered the house. I had gone to the kitchen to get a glass of water. The man strangulated Vadiyar. They came inside the kitchen,  gagged me and pushed me on the floor. I fell unconscious,” she said.

By the time she regained consciousness, they had removed her four gold bangles and a gold chain and fled.When she saw her husband lying motionless, she called up her sister-in-law Jaylakshmi Shankar who lives nearby.Shankar came to Rajamma’s flat with a doctor who declared him dead. Rajamma sustained minor injuries.

The fridge repair man had visited the couple’s flat twice before the crime, said a crime branch officer. “It’s a planned murder with the intention of robbery. The repair man, the main suspect, knew that the old couple was staying alone and they had no children,” he added.

The repair man contacted the couple on September 10 for an annual service of the refrigerator. Later, he went to Vadiyar’s flat on September 14 and told the couple thatthe gasket needs to be replaced. On September 17, he replaced the gasket and asked Rs2000 as service charge.

Rajamma argued with him and demanded a bill. On September 18, he came to their house on the pretext of giving the original bill.

The police found a paper on which Rs2,000 was written and signature of the repairer.The police went to the ST Service in Vikhroli, a private contractor company which accepted the annual repair refrigerator contract from Vadiyar. We will question refrigerator repair men working in the ST Services, said the crime branch officer.”We are yet to prepare the sketch of suspected killer as the woman is still in shock,” said BB Rathod, senior police inspector of Chembur police station.