A 21-year-old caste Hindu girl and her lover belonging to Dalit community, who had eloped a few days ago, were found hanging from a tree under suspicious circumstances at Aathupakkam in Nagapattinam district on Wednesday.
Police gave the names of the deceased as S. Saranya and N. Gurumurthi (24), a labourer. The girl, the police said, had been staying in her uncle’s house and was in love with Gurumurthy of Olakudi village.
The girl went missing a few days ago and Porayar police booked a case under Section 363 (kidnap) of the Indian Penal Code on a complaint preferred by her uncle Jayakumar.
Even as the search was on, the lovers were found hanging from a banyan tree at Aathupakkam village on Wednesday morning.
Following their death, Porayar police altered the case under Section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Nagapattinam Superintendent of Police D. Kannan told The Hindu that it was a case of suicide.
However, the autopsy done by a team of doctors was video recorded. The bodies were handed over to their relatives after post-mortem.
