CHENNAI: In a shocking incident, a 22-year-old man allegedly hammered his girlfriend to death, and subsequently hanged himself on a tree, Friday night at Mahabalipuram, about 50 kilometers south of Chennai. Police believe the man took the extreme step upset over the girl's decision to end the relationship since her parents were against it.
Police said the bodies of the couple were spotted around 2.30 am by a patrolling team near the Tiger Caves spot at the tourist center. From the preliminary evidence at the spot, police said the boy had hit the girl Jennifer Pushpa, (20), with a huge iron hammer on her head resulting in instant death. John Mathew, (22), then hung himself to death by tying the girl's duppatta to a tree.
The investigations revealed that both of them had been in a relationship for the last five years, and recently the girl decided to end it due to opposition from Pushpa's parents.
The girl was a final year BCA (Bachelor of Computer Applications) student of a renowned college at Nungambakkam and had recently got placed in an IT company through campus interview, her parents told police.
Mathew, a resident of Semmencherry, was working as a tailor. Both of them were earlier residing at Kottivakkam in Chennai and attended the same church. "Her parents were against the relationship and asked her to end the relationship. The girl had also recently started avoiding him. Possibly enraged by this, Mathew decided to murder her," said a police officer.
Incidentally, Friday was Pushpa's birthday and police said Mathew had asked her to come with him to Mahabalipuram one last time. After waking around the place, the couple were talking in a secluded spot near Tiger Caves, where police believe he brutally murdered Jennifer Pushpa witha huge iron hammer he had wrapped in a gift box.
A single blow was enough to kill a person, police sources said. The incident came to light only around 2.30 am on Saturday when the police patrol team spotted the bodies, and the duo's families also came in search of them.