Five months after a 23-year-old woman was murdered, police have arrested her mother after re-investigation into the case of suspected honour killing reported in Kuyavankudi near here on June 21 last year.
Acting on the orders of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, Superintendent of Police N.M. Mylvahanan had appointed A. Jesu, Inspector of Police, attached to Kenikarai police station, as the new investigating officer (IO) to probe the murder of S. Bavani, mother of two children, afresh.
Mr. Jesu, who conducted the fresh probe, found the involvement of the parents of the deceased after questioning the children who were witness to the murder. But he went on medical leave.
Following up the case on the instruction of the SP, newly appointed Inspector of Police (Kenikarai) Murugan arrested Uma Mageswari, the mother of the deceased, on Monday and produced her in a court here, which remanded her in judicial custody.
The SP said the police had initially arrested J. Dinesh, brother of the deceased who confessed that he had killed his sister suspecting her of having an extra-marital relationship. However, the fresh probe revealed the involvement of the parents and Dinesh’s friend Saravanan, who was absconding, the SP said. As Jayakumar, father of the deceased, had gone abroad, the SP ordered initiation of Lookout Circular (LOC) to arrest him when he returned to India. Saravanan who was hiding in Chennai would be arrested soon, the SP said.
The family was upset with Bavani’s alleged extra-marital affair and this seemed to be the provocation for the murder, the SP said, adding “honour killing could also be one of the factors but there is no evidence to prove that.”
S. Sathish Kumar (31), husband of Bavani, had sought a fresh probe as he suspected that her murder was a case of honour killing as he was a Dalit and his wife’s family was never comfortable with their love marriage.
After he went to Malaysia for employment leaving behind his wife and two sons – Rohit (5) and Dhilip (3) – with Bavani’s grandparents in Kuyavankudi, she frequently complained to him that her parents and brother harassed her for marrying a Dalit.
