G. Kasturi Kutty, 82, daughter of Arya Vaidya Pharmacy (AVP) founder Aryavaidyan P.V. Rama Varier, was found dead at her flat in Parson Apartment on Nanjundapuram Road, Coimbatore, on the morning of Friday, 6 March 2026. Her body was discovered with her hands and legs bound and her mouth sealed with tape, in what police believe was a robbery-linked murder.
A two-sovereign gold chain she habitually wore was found missing and cupboards in the residence had been broken open. Suspicion has fallen on her Nepalese domestic worker, Surja Roke (37), who has gone missing since the incident. CCTV footage from the gated community has since placed Surja and four other individuals at the scene in the early hours of that morning. A six-member special investigation team, led by Deputy Commissioner G. Karthikeyan and Assistant Commissioner Vasantharaj of the Ramanathapuram station, has been formed, and the hunt for the suspects is actively under way.
How a Morning Phone Call Unravelled a Tragedy
Kasturi Kutty lived with her son, Dr. Ramkumar Kutty, an Ayurvedic doctor and director at AVP. He had recently travelled to Vietnam on work, leaving his elderly mother in the sole care of Surja Roke, hired through an agency a few months prior. On Friday morning, Dr. Ramkumar tried calling his mother’s mobile number from abroad but received no response. He immediately alerted neighbours, who hurried to the flat.
Arriving at around 8:55 am, they found the front door locked from the inside. They entered through an unlocked back door and made the grim discovery, Kasturi lying lifeless in her bedroom, bound and gagged. Separately, Kasturi’s daughter, who resides in another gated community in the city and spoke to her mother every morning, had also been unable to reach her since 7:15 am and had separately alerted a neighbour.
Senior police officers, including Deputy Commissioner Karthikeyan, visited the scene promptly. Forensic experts were deployed alongside a dog squad. The victim’s mobile phone was recovered from behind the house, believed to have been discarded during the crime.
CCTV Footage Reveals a Calculated, Pre-Planned Crime
The investigation has moved swiftly, with CCTV footage from inside the gated community proving critical. The footage clearly shows Surja Roke, along with four others, scaling the compound wall in the dead of night carrying a bag. Three of these individuals entered Kasturi’s flat at approximately 12:15 am on Friday and departed within roughly 30 minutes suggesting a crime that was not spontaneous but meticulously planned. Crucially, the footage shows Surja opening the door for the intruders, indicating an insider’s role in facilitating the break-in.
Police also recovered Surja’s mobile phone near the compound wall, believed to have slipped out as the group fled. Investigators are analysing further footage to trace the suspects’ movements. Kasturi was the widow of the late Gopalan Kutty, a former director of AVP, and is also the sister of P.R. Krishnakumar, a former Managing Director of the company. She is survived by three children Dr. Ramkumar Kutty, Sujatha and Susheela. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, and the investigation remains ongoing with police intensifying their search for Surja and her four alleged accomplices.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
The killing of an 82-year-old woman bound, gagged, and left alone in her bedroom while her family was miles away is not merely a crime story. It is a mirror held up to a rapidly changing India, where nuclear families and professional mobility increasingly mean elderly parents are left in the care of strangers, often with little formal oversight or safeguarding. The horrifying circumstances of Kasturi Kutty’s death demand more than grief they demand systemic accountability.
