Update: How the lecturer trapped the killer daughter and son-in-law using the fuel QR

A cruel incident of abduction, strangulation, and murder of Ms. Thayarani Theepan, a 54-year-old lecturer at the University of Jaffna, has created a great shock throughout the Jaffna region these days. This crime was committed by her son-in-law, and the presence of the deceased lecturer's daughter at the crime scene during that tragic moment has deeply astonished society.

This lecturer, who lived with her daughter in the Pandiyan Thalvu area of Jaffna, separated from her husband, was thus murdered. Her son is employed in the Colombo area.

Police investigations have now confirmed that a family dispute was the root cause of this murder. Although the 19-year-old daughter of the deceased lecturer and the 21-year-old suspect had entered into a registered marriage as a result of a love affair, the mother had a strong disapproval of her son-in-law's behavior. Accordingly, on the mother's advice, the daughter had filed a divorce case in court, and that case was still being heard in court at the time of the murder. Previously, on one occasion, the suspect had caused disturbances by coming to the house, leading the magistrate to issue an order prohibiting him from entering the premises.

Investigations into this incident began recently when the son, who works in Colombo, filed a complaint with the Jaffna Police stating that the lecturer and her daughter had gone missing. Accordingly, when the police inspected the house in Pandiyan Thalvu, they found evidence that someone had entered the house by removing roof tiles and using a rope, and that several cut strands of hair were present there. Faced with this situation, the son acted quickly, promptly gathered information about the locations where his sister's mobile phone was used and where money was withdrawn from ATMs, and provided it to the police.

According to that information, it was confirmed that fuel had been obtained for a vehicle using a QR code from a filling station in the Trincomalee area, and the Jaffna District Crime Prevention Police expanded their investigations through the CCTV footage installed at that location. As a result, the suspect son-in-law and his wife, the lecturer's daughter, were arrested by the police in the Trincomalee area. Although they were interrogated intensely while being brought to Jaffna, they did not reveal any information about the mother's whereabouts. However, during continuous questioning after being brought to Jaffna, the daughter confessed to the police that her husband had strangled and killed her mother immediately after abducting her.

Investigations also revealed that two gold ornaments belonging to the deceased woman were pawned in Trincomalee after the murder. Only after the daughter's statement did the police confirm this was a murder, and she further revealed that the body had been thrown into a bush in the Navatkuli and Arakkuvali areas. Accordingly, the police launched search operations in that area with the suspects, but since the body had been disposed of at night, it was difficult to locate it immediately. However, after continuous searches, the highly decomposed body of the lecturer was eventually found.

Subsequently, after on-site inspections were conducted by crime scene investigation officers, officers from the Jaffna Crime Prevention Division, and Judicial Medical Officer Mr. Pranavanan Chelliah, the body was sent to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital for a post-mortem examination. Had it not been for the son's strenuous efforts to save his mother, the discovery of this murder and the body would have been significantly delayed. The people of the Jaffna region are already living in great fear due to a wave of crimes committed by drug addicts, and this cruel fate faced by an educated lecturer has further plunged the entire region into deep shock.