A 28-year-old farmer allegedly hacked his 18-year-old niece to death in his fields on the outskirts of Palamaner on Friday.
The victim, Pavani, a tenth standard dropout and a resident of Radha Bungalow locality in Palamaner, used to work in the the fields of her uncle, Ayyappa, since a couple of years. Ayyappa reportedly did not pay wages for the girl for the last six months. In the wake of acute financial crisis in her family, Pavani asked Ayyappa to pay her wages and the man reportedly kept dodging the issue.
A week ago, Pavani reportedly started working in the fields of another farmer adjoining that of Ayyappa. For the last four days, her uncle allegedly kept forcing Pavani to return to work in his fields, which the girl refused. On Thursady, Ayyappa reportedly objected to the girl passing through his fields to go to work in his neighbour's fields, to which the girl said that the land actually belonged to her grandfather.
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Fearing that the girl would stake her claim for the lands, Ayyappa followed his niece, who was on her way to the neighbour’s fields on Friday, and hacked her face with an axe, killing her on the spot. When his neighbour tried to nab him, the accused threatened to kill him, and fled the scene.
The police visited the fields and shifted the body to area hospital for autopsy. The police have launched a search for Ayyappa.