Animosity between neighbours resulted in the twin murder of a 60-year-old woman and her daughter at Melakkal near Sholavandan on Tuesday night.
Their neighbour surrendered before a judicial magistrate court here on Wednesday afternoon.
V.Chellammal and her daughter M.Murugeswari (35) were murdered at around midnight on Tuesday.
However, the police got to know of the incident by early Wednesday.
The mother lay dead on the street in front of the house, while the body of the daughter was found in a narrow lane close by. Both bore multiple stab wounds. Police said the bodies were mutilated.
“The suspect had threatened the neighbours with dire consequences if they went to the police. So all the families in the vicinity left their houses in the night,” Superintendent of Police V.Balakrishnan said.
After her husband’s death a few years ago, Murugeswari had been living with her mother in South Street in Melakkal. The police described the women as quarrelsome.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Samayanallur) T.Kanthasorooban said Chellammal and her daughter were prone to be abusive with neighbours.
Their relations with Muniyandi and his wife, who lived next door, were especially strained.
On Tuesday evening, the women had an altercation with Muniyandi’s wife, which resulted in the neighbour leaving her house in a huff, blaming her husband, the DSP said.
A distraught Muniyandi then killed Chellamal before chasing her daughter and stabbing her to death.
The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, the police said.
