COIMBATORE: Relatives of a 34-year-old man, who had allegedly committed suicide, blocked Tiruchy Road in front of the government hospital for a few minutes on Friday morning, demanding a fresh police investigation.
Alleging foul play, they refused to receive the body after the post-mortem. “My nephew did not commit suicide. He was murdered by his wife, her brother and mother,” alleged A Nagalingam, a relative of the deceased, Pechimuthu.
A construction worker from Rathinapuri, Pechimuthu was found hanging from a ceiling fan at his wife’s house on Thursday at 3 pm. He was rushed to hospital but could not be saved. Before his death, Pechimuthu had told the police that he wanted to commit suicide because of guilt over ‘torturing’ his wife, Manjula.
In her police statement, Manjula said,“I have been staying at my mother’s house for a month because he used to beat and abuse me everyday. But he would come to the house and threaten to kill me. On Thursday, he came and quarrelled with us again. He stabbed my mother and me with a kitchen knife. I ran outside to take my mother to hospital. Meanwhile, my husband locked the bedroom and hanged himself.”
Pechimuthu’s body was to be released after post-mortem on Friday morning. However, his relatives refused to receive the body, and staged a protest. The police though persuaded them to call it off.
Stir Demanding Probe into ‘Suicide’
Relatives of a woman, who allegedly committed suicide in Delhi a few days back, staged a protest near Coimbatore International Airport on Friday demanding a probe into her death.
The body arrived via an Indigo Flight from Delhi at around 10 30 am. However, the relatives refused to accept the body. They alleged that the woman’s husband, working as an office staff at a Ghaziabad medical college, used to torture her which forced her to kill herself.
“We spoke to her a few hours before the incident. She told us that Sampath was harassing her,” said one of the relatives. They urged the police to register a case against Sampath. Peelamedu police rushed to the spot. They explained to the protestors that they could not file a case as the incident took place in Delhi. The relatives then received the body.