Army jawan murders wife and in-laws

: An Army jawan murdered his wife and four in-laws at A. Thottiyapatti under Nagaiyapuram police station limits near Sedapatti on Monday night.

The police said that P. Kamalakannan (35), who was on leave, is said to have hacked his wife, Gomathi (28), and her parents Chinnasamy (65) and Ramuthai (55), her sisters, Bakkiyalakshmi (35) and Vanaroja (23).

The accused, who came to the village on January 19, hacked them all at the house of his wife’s parents, following a dispute with her. After a complaint of dowry harassment against him was closed at the petition-level, the man had applied for divorce against Gomathi.

Though the family court in Madurai asked the couple to live together for one year before getting divorce, he had appealed against it in the High Court, the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Peraiyur), M. Balasubramanian, said.

Meanwhile, it is said that the Gomathi’s family members had been writing petitions against him to the Army headquarters in New Delhi. Irked over this, the man hacked them all.