A young man was arrested on charges of strangling to death an 85-year-old woman and putting the body in a water tank near her house in Thudiyalur.

The body of the victim, Visalakshi, was found floating in the water tank yesterday. Police initially treated this as a case of accidental death, because it looked as if the woman had slipped and fallen in the tank during nigh hours. Preliminary investigations revealed that a 12 gram gold chain, worn by the woman, was missing from her person.

Post mortem reports revealed that the death was due to strangling, and investigations led to the arrest of one Shaktivel from Gudiyattam in Vellore district. He was working with the grandson of Visalakshi, police said.

Shaktivel allegedly confessed that he was sleeping outside Visalakshi’s house the previous night because he was leaving for his native place early the next morning. He saw the woman outside the house in the early hours and attempted to snatch the chain.

When she resisted, he strangled her to death, snatched the chain and pushed her lifeless body into the water tank.