Chennai: The city police on Thursday night arrested a 22-year-old actress in Bangalore for murdering her husband, who had tried to force her to act in pornographic movies, in Maduravoyal eight months ago.
Investigators said Shruti Chandralekha, who acted in a few Tamil and Kannada films, and two accomplices killed S Ronald Peter Prinzo, 35. With the help of five others, they buried the body in Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli district.
Police had in January arrested Chandralekha’s accomplices Prinson, Gandhimathinathan, Vijay, Vinoth Nirmal and Rafiq in connection with the crime. Two others, Umachandran and Elisa, are absconding.
Chandralekha, who had separated from her husband Manjunath, met Prinzo, a businessman, in Salem who had earlier been married to a woman named Sona. The couple relocated to Maduravoyal after Prinzo suffered heavy losses.
Prinzo and his friends Umachandran and Prinson of Tirunelveli started an online venture to trade commodities like rice and dal but the business failed to take off. Umachandran and Prinson demanded Prinzo return the money they had invested.
“Under pressure to repay the money, Prinzo decided to make porn movies and relentlessly pressured Chandralekha to act in them. She said Prinzo wanted her to take part in group sex for the porn films but she refused,” an investigating officer said.
While Prinzo was on a trip to Bangalore, Chandralekha plotted his murder. She contacted Umachandran and Prinson, who wanted to get back at Prinzo, who they believed had cheated them.
According to plan, Chandralekha gave Prinzo poisoned milk at their house on Parappaadi-Ilankulam Main Road in Maduravoyal on January 18. When he started to lose consciousness, Prinson and Umachandran strangled him. With the help Gandhimathinathan, Vijay, Vinoth Nirmal, Elisa and Rafiq, they transported the body in a car to Asirvatha Nagar in Palayamkottai and buried it there.
“Chandralekha and the others returned and took possession of 75 lakh in cash and valuables from Prinzo’s house,” the officer said.
After Prinzo went missing, his brother Justin asked Prinson about his whereabouts. Prinson was driving Prinzo’s car but could not explain his disappearance. On a complaint from Justin, the police picked up Prinson. During interrogation, he revealed the plot and took police to the spot where they had buried Prinzo. Police exhumed the body in May.
The actress was on the run till Thursday, when a police team arrested her in the house of a financier in Bangalore.
