Chennai: A 26-year-old woman software engineer and her elder brother, based in Bengaluru, were murdered by the woman’s estranged father-in-law after an argument at the latter’s residence in Pallikaranai on Monday. The woman’s elder sister was also grievously injured in the attack, police said.
The woman’s family had come to Chennai for pacifying talks with the in-laws to repair the relationship with her husband. Varalakshmi and her husband, Vinayaka Moorthy (30), also a software engineer, married four years ago. “The couple stayed together only for three months and were separated since,” a police official said.
After leaving her in-laws house in Chennai, Varalakshmi went back to Bengaluru and lived with her family. Both the families, in the meantime made futile attempts to reconcile and reunite the couple, police said.
On Monday, Varalakshmi, her elder brother, Kothandaraman (30), elder sister, Bhavani (33) and a woman friend had come for talks at Vinayaka Moorthy’s house in Sai Balaji Nagar here for similar discussions.
“Vinayaka Moorthy was away at work. Only his father, Kosalan (60), an auto driver, was at the house,” the investigating officer said.
Kosalan and Kothandaraman had got into a verbal duel during the course of the meeting over the reasons for the failure of the marriage, with each indulging in blame game. The duel escalated and an enraged Kosalan rushed into the kitchen, caught hold of a sickle and started raining blows on the visitors, police said. The women and her brother ran outside the house for help. However, Kosalan gave them a chase and hacked them on the road leaving them to die.
After a few minutes, the sexagenarian called the local police and informed them the sequence of events that transpired in the evening and confessed to the crime. A team rushed to the scene and secured the injured Bhavani and moved her to a private hospital near Pallikaranai. Kothandaraman and Varalakshmi were killed on the spot and their bodies were moved to the Chromepet Government General Hospital for post mortem. Varalakshmi’s friend managed to flee from the scene, police said. Palliakaranai police have registered a case and have detained Kosalan.
