The Coimbatore City Police on Friday arrested a man on charges of murdering M. Sangeetha (59), a transgender entrepreneur and head of one of the transgenders’ associations in Coimbatore district.
The police said that R. Rajesh (23) from Nagapattinam district, was working under Sangeetha at ‘Covai Trans Kitchen’, a biriyani joint inaugurated under her leadership on East Venkataswamy Road at R.S. Puram in September. He joined early in October and was also staying with Sangeetha. However, the accused allegedly began torturing her sexually and she threatened to file a complaint with the police against him. This led to her murder on Sunday night at her residence on N.S.R. Road in Saibaba Colony, following which he stuffed the body in a plastic barrel and sprinkled crystal salt on it and absconded, according to the police.
The house remained locked since Sunday night and the police retrieved the body on Wednesday morning from the barrel after neighbours informed of a foul smell emanating from the premises. The Saibaba Colony police registered a case under Sections 302 (Punishment for murder) and 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code and City Commissioner of Police Sumit Sharan had ordered three special teams to nab the accused.
A senior police officer said that the accused confessed to have stuffed the body in the plastic barrel and sprinkled salt to delay the detection of murder, the officer said. He was remanded in judicial custody on Friday.
‘Disheartening and condemnable’
Transgender artist and writer Kalki Subramaniam termed the murder of Sangeetha as “disheartening and condemnable.” “Such crimes against transgender must be taken seriously by the police and the legal system,” she told The Hindu , adding that Sangeetha was a “very respected person in the [transgender] community.”
