Express News Service By

CHENNAI: A small-time actress, who had been on the run for over three months after allegedly murdering her husband, was nabbed by a special police team from her hideout in Bangalore on Thursday.

Police said Shruthi Chandralekha (22) was suspected to have been part of the gang that murdered her businessman husband Ronald Peter Prinzo (35), a native of Tirunelveli. Of the seven other accused, three were still on the run.

Shruthi allegedly confessed to the investigating officials that she hatched a plot to murder Prinzo after he tried to force her into performing group sex in a pornographic movie.

Investigations revealed that the actress had married when she was 16 to one Manjunath. Later she had an affair with Prinzo and got separated from Manjunath.

Prinzo, who had moved to Maduravoyal after his business in Tirunelveli failed, started an online grocery store with his friends Umachandran and John Prinson, both from Tirunelveli. It was around this time that he married Shruti.

However, even the online shop failed and his friends began demanding their money back. Prinzo refused to repay his partners and shifted base to Bangalore. He started afresh and launched another business, which thrived.

Allegedly angered over their partner not bothering to pay them back despite his new venture proving successful, Umachandran and Prinson hatched a plot to murder Prinzo.

Aware of the fact that Prinzo’s relationship with Shruti was strained, they roped her in too.

As part of the plan, Shruthi invited Prinzo over to her house at Maduravoyal and poisoned him during a binge session on January 18. Umachandran, Prinson and their friends Honest Raj alias Saddam, Gandhimathinathan alias Vijay and Rafiq Usman, of Tirunelveli, soon arrived and strangled Prinzo. They then took the body to Tirunelveli and buried it on a vacant plot at Palayamkottai. The gang and Shruti reportedly shared Rs 75 lakh and valuables among them.

It was about a fortnight later that Shruti lodged a complaint with the Maduravoyal police claiming that her husband had gone missing. Meanwhile, Prinzo’s brother Justin too filed a similar complaint at their native Palayamkottai.

The murder came to light when Justin saw his brother’s car being used by Prinson. He alerted police, who arrested Prinson and his friends on May 10. Two days later, the body was found.

Shruti was produced before a court and remanded. Hunt was on to nab Umachandran, the prime accused, and his aides Elisa and Vinoth Nirmal.