Pudukottai, Oct 3:
Six people, including the mother-in-law of a six-month pregnant woman, have been arrested in connection with her murder in Pudukottai district. Police said the woman was allegedly strangled and smothered with a pillow before her family members attempted to pass off the death as a result of a sudden health complication.
The deceased was identified as Sandhya, 21, wife of Pandithurai of Indira Nagar near Mettupatti in Pudukottai. The couple had been married for about a year and Sandhya was six months pregnant. Pandithurai was employed at a private company in Erode.
According to the police, Pandithurai had left for Erode on September 29. The following day, Sandhya was taken by her relatives to the Pudukottai Government Medical College Hospital, claiming that she had developed health complications. Doctors, however, said that she had died on the way to the hospital.
After a postmortem examination, the body was handed over to the relatives on October 1. Doctors subsequently informed the police that there were injury marks on Sandhya’s neck suggesting that she had been strangled. Based on this information, Ganesh Nagar police began an investigation.
During the investigation, police allegedly found that family members and relatives had conspired to kill Sandhya when her husband was away and had attempted to conceal the murder by claiming that she had died due to ill health.
Police said a previous dispute had developed after Sandhya allegedly made remarks to her husband about his sisters. Following the dispute, her mother-in-law Banumathi, 46, sisters-in-law Pandimeena, 33, and Porkodi, 29, a relative of her husband, Kanimozhi, 27, her father-in-law’s sister Selvi, 38, and Selvi’s son Karthik, 24, allegedly attacked Sandhya while she was lying in a room.
According to the police, the accused allegedly strangled her with a dupatta and pressed a pillow against her face, resulting in her death at the spot. Police also said that the television volume was increased to prevent any sound from the room from being heard outside.
The accused allegedly later informed relatives that Sandhya had choked while eating food, fainted and subsequently died. The six accused — Banumathi, Pandimeena, Porkodi, Kanimozhi, Selvi and Karthik — were arrested late on Thursday night and remanded in judicial custody in the early hours of Friday.