A 34-year-old woman and her 64-year-old mother were murdered at their home in Erandamkattalai, near Kundrathur, a western suburb, on Monday night.
The assailants made an attempt on the life of one of the two daughters of the younger woman, Thenmozhi; the seven-year-old girl had a miraculous escape, police said.
Three persons, including two women, have been arrested in connection with the murders. The incident came to light when neighbours noticed Subhashree (7) and her younger sister, eight-month-old Gunasree, stepping out of their home.
Thenmozhi was a school teacher and her husband Ramaswamy was working in Yemen. The family has been living here on a ground-floor flat for the past four years.
According to Chennai City police officials, the three suspects — Sathya of Nagalkeni, Chromepet; Dowlath Begum and Jayakumar — had visited the house of Thenmozhi and her mother Vasantha in Pesil Nagar on Monday night. Sathya had helped the family in cleaning Thenmozhi’s house after the floods last year and used to visit them frequently since then.
The three of them entered the house on Monday night and had assaulted the two women.
They then broke open the almirah and took away jewels, cash and other valuables. They also attacked Subhasree, who fell down and lost consciousness.
On Tuesday morning, she was woken up by the cries of her younger sister and ran out of the house carrying her, around 6 a.m. “She had sustained an injury on her throat and was bleeding,” sources said. The flat is located on the rear side of the complex and that made it easy for the assailants to flee without being noticed by anybody.
The bodies of the victims were sent to Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital in Chromepet for a post-mortem examination.
Kundrathur police, who are investigating, were able to trace the suspects by Tuesday evening.
Cook murdered
In Triplicane, a 57-year-old cook was murdered by his colleague on Monday night.
City Police sources said Arumugam, a head cook in a restaurant on Akbar Sahib Street, used to quarrel frequently with Muruganandham (40). A few weeks ago, the former had assaulted Muruganandham. On Monday, Muruganandham assaulted Arumugam with a rice sack.
Arumugam lost his consciousness and was rushed by other workers to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival, the police added.
The trio entered the house on Monday night and assaulted the
two women
