CHENNAI: Three days after a 76-year-old woman was said to have been murdered by a masked robber, police arrested the victim’s 21-year-old grand-daughter.
Police said the woman S Kanimozhi stabbed her grandmother with an hacksaw in a fit of rage for opposing her relationship with her boyfriend and chiding her for talking with him over phone in the late hours.
Kanimozhi had initially managed to convince the police and her father that the masked man entered their house at Porur at night and killed her grandmother Mangalam. But three days later, police said, the woman confessed to have killed her grandmother.
“Kanimozhi was in a relationship with a person since her college days. But her grandmother wanted to marry Kanimozhi off to a relative. This led to frequent quarrels between them.
On Thursday night, a similar quarrel broke out and Mangalam is said to have assaulted Kanimozhi,” said a police officer.
Kanimozhi’s father Subbaiah, the only other person residing in the house, was a nursing assistant.
“Kanimozhi was again talking over the phone with her boyfriend late in the night. Mangalam noticed this and chided her. In the fit of rage, Kanimozhi took an hacksaw and stabbed her grandmother twice in the stomach and chest,” said a police officer.
The elderly woman started bleeding and was writhing in pain for a few hours. The police said even a neighbour checked out on hearing cries. “But, Kanimozhi lied to him that her grandmother is unwell and that her father was on the way to take her to hospital,” said the officer.
When Subbaiah reached the house around 3 am on Friday, Kanimozhi told him that a masked man had broken in and stabbed Mangalam after locking her up in the bathroom. “Believing her, Subbaiah told us he suspected the role of a woman with whom he had an extra-marital relationship years ago. But investigations ruled that out. Later, Kanimozhi confessed to the crime and told that she cooked up the robbery story as an afterthought,” said the officer.
The 21-year-old woman had completed BE (ECE) graduation this May in a government college at Kumbakonam, where she was staying with her mother.
Kanimozhi has been remanded in judicial custody for 15 days by a Magistrate court and police have booked her on charges of murder.