Police have arrested a youth for allegedly murdering a 77-year-old widow and stealing 40 sovereigns of gold from her and picked up his brother also.Police said the body of A. Chinnammal, of Vadiveeswaram here, who was living alone, was found burnt in her house on Sunday evening. After the neighbours alerted the police and Chinnammal’s daughter Vanaja, she rushed to her mother’s house. While Ms. Vanaja found that the gold ornaments from Chinnammal and her house were missing, police spotted bleeding injury on the occiput.After collecting CCTV footages from the cameras fitted near the house, the police found that an unidentified person with the helmet entered the house of Chinnammal and left the spot after a few minutes. When the police identified the stranger as dairy farm worker Velraj alias Vignesh, 33 of Virudhunagar district, who was living in a rented house in Chettikulam near Vadiveeswaram, police went to his house, where he was with his brother.During interrogation, Velraj reportedly told the police that he lost his job recently after the dairy farm near Chinnmmal’s house was closed down. During his tenure in the dairy farm, Velraj used to do chores for Chinnammal.While working as construction worker after losing the dairy farm job, Velraj met Chinnammal on Sunday and asked her to give him some money. As she refused to give him money, Velraj allegedly assaulted her in which she swooned and died. After taking the gold ornaments weighing 15 sovereigns she was wearing, Velraj also took another 25 sovereigns from the steel bureau in the house and burnt the body.Upon reaching his rented house with the booty, Velraj asked his brother in Virudhunagar to come to Chettikulam. As his brother came to Velraj’s house in Chettikulam, the police arrived there and nabbed the brothers.Further investigations are on to ascertain the role of the brother in the murder for gain. Published - August 31, 2026 08:39 pm IST