Chennai: The city police on Thursday arrested eight persons belonging to the TGBT community for allegedly murdering another transgender at Chikkarayapuram quarry near Mangadu, Kancheepuram, earlier this month.
According to police, the body of the deceased, identified as Sowmya alias Ravi (25), was fished out by police from the Chikkarayapuram quarry on June 7.
Initially, police treated the case as accidental drowning. But later, they grew suspicious and investigated the friends of the deceased. They found a house occupied by nearly 20 transgenders in Keluthipettai, Kundrathur. It was run by two transgenders identified as Ganapathy and Maha Lakshmi. The duo took money from the inmates who earned by collections from shops and passersby.
The eight of them had a grudge against Sowmya for informing Ganapathy and Maha Lakshmi about the fights going on among them and plotted her murder. On June 7, when she went to take bath in the Chikkarayapuram quarry, they beat her and then drowned her. Later, they confessed to Ganapathy and Maha Lakshmi, who assured them that they would manage the situation, provided each of them gave Rs 3,000 a day.
Meanwhile, post-mortem report showed it to be a case of assault and forced drowning. When the inmates could not take the torture in the house any more, one of them fled to Kancheepuram. Maha Lakshmi had gone to bring her back. She allegedly attacked and abducted her when the police caught them. The rest of them surrendered before Mangadu police. The police arrested Sudha alias Sankar (23), Sriya alias Selvamani (24), Vasanthi alias Vasanth (24), Rose alias
Vinothini (25), Arthi alias Venkatesan (26), Regina alias Ashok (26), Divya alias Sadiq Basha (25) and Manisha alias Manoj (23).
