They were soon to be married, and happily too.
However, alleged pressure and physical assault by the relatives of the man led to the young couple committing suicide one after the other. Five persons including a woman were arrested in connection with the incidents and a hunt is on for another woman.
Tiruvottiyur police saidSenthil (28), a painter and Manimekalai (22), a B.Com graduate, both residents of Pattinathar Koil Kuppam in Tiruvottiyur, got engaged in June and their wedding was fixed for January 2013.
The couple were reportedly happy with the arranged marriage and often spoke on the phone. Meanwhile, a relative of Senthil was against the wedding and wanted him to marry his niece.
But Senthil was keen on marrying Manimekalai.
“Unable to handle pressure from relatives, Senthil hanged himself on November 16. His family members hushed up the suicide and cremated his body the same day. They later started blaming Manimekalai for Senthil’s suicide,” said T. Sundaramurthy, Inspector of Police, Tiruvottiyur.
On Wednesday noon, Senthil’s father Chinnappillai (64), sister Ramani (40), brother Kumaran (35), Kumaran’s wife Radhika (32), and village representatives Sundaram (85) and Mathiazhagan (40) intercepted Manimekalai near her home and taunted her.
“They abused Manimekalai saying that she was solely responsible for Senthil’s death and attacked her with slippers. We arrested five of them on Thursday and remanded them. However, Radhika is absconding,” the inspector added.
Manimekalai who was admitted to a hospital was discharged on Thursday night. Humiliated over the attack, Manimekalai committed suicide by hanging in her house on Friday morning.
Tiruvottiyur police have registered a case of abetting suicide against Senthil’s family members, sources added.
