CUDDALORE: A 24-year-old man, who was alleged to have murdered a school teacher at Kurinjipadi in the district on Friday, was found hanging in a cashew grove near Villupuram district early morning on Sunday.
According to the Cuddalore police officers, the youth, K Rajesekaran, had committed suicide by hanging from a cashew tree at Toppaiyankulam near Tirunavalur in Villupuram district. The residents of the village spotted a bike in the grove on Sunday morning and informed the Tirunavalur police. In a search operation, the police found the body a few metres away from the bike.
As the Tirunavalur police suspected that the deceased could be the accused who murdered the 28-year-old school teacher, S Ramya, they informed the Kurinjipadi police station, where the case related to her death was registered.
When the police spoke to Rajesekaran’s family at Viruthagiri Kuppam near Vridhachalam, they said that the man had told one of his friends on February 22 that he would commit suicide. “He turned his mobile phone off and no one saw him after that,” a relative of Rajesekaran said.
The police officials, however, said that the probe was still on to confirm if the body found in Villupuram was that of the man accused in the Kurinjipadi murder case.
Ramya, a teacher at a private school in Kurinjipadi, was murdered in front of the institute, allegedly by Rajesekaran who had been stalking her for the past few months. The woman had reached the school early on Friday morning and was waiting by the roadside for the gates to be opened when two youngsters drove past her on a bike and the pillion rider used a sharp object to slit her throat, killing her on the spot. The pillion rider, who was wearing a helmet, was later identified by the police as Rajasekaran.
According to police, he had been forcing Ramya to accept his love proposal for the last few months. “As she kept turning him down, he got angry and committed the crime,” said a police officer.
Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104 and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050.