A 28-year-old man is alleged to have hacked to death his wife, her mother and grandmother at Velur Othaveedu under SIPCOT police limits near Manamadurai in Sivaganga district on Tuesday night.
Police said Pandithurai, a history-sheeter who got married to Rajeswari (22) two years ago, was living separately after his wife left him and moved to her mother’s house in the same village with her nine-month-old son.
As the couple had frequent quarrels after Pandithurai suspected her fidelity, Rajeswari left him, the police said.. She had been living with her mother for the past six months. On Tuesday night, he went to call her home when a wordy duel broke out between them, after which he returned home, picked up a sickle from a nearby house and hacked the three women one by one, the police said.
The police said Pandithurai, who became furious after his wife and mother-in-law teased and abused him, first hacked his mother-in-law I. Dhanabakiyam (48). When his wife came running from the house, he hacked her and then Arumugam Ammal (65), a widow, for abusing him.
All the three women died on the spot. Rajeswari’s father Irulappan had gone to Dharapuram with his son and the three women were alone at home.
Pandithurai took his son from the cradle and escaped after giving the child to his mother, the police said.
Superintendent of Police Ashwin M. Kotnis, who visited the spot on Tuesday night, formed three special teams and one of the teams arrested the accused at Kallarkulam in the early hours of Wednesday.
The accused confessed to his crime and his statement was being corroborated with the sequence of the crime, the SP said. The accused suspected that his wife had removed her ‘thali’, the SP said.
