VILLUPURAM: A day after a 21-year-old woman was allegedly burnt to death in Villupuram, the victim’s husband and mother-in-law were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the incident. The mother-son duo had continuously tortured the victim, sources alleged.
Sowmya entered wedlock with S Selvakumar, who is employed at the Villupuram municipality office, in 2018. “The mother-in-law kept torturing Sowmya asking her to conceive, and this continued for two years,” father of the victim Thanajeyan (48) told Express. “She had come to stay with us for the Aadi month, and last Saturday I brought her back to her husband’s place. On Monday, however, she called us over phone and said that her mother-in-law was not talking to her cordially. And on Tuesday we hear that my daughter is dead,” Thanajeyan added. Taluk Deputy Superintendent of Police Nallasivam said that they had investigated the spot and registered a suicide case. “We have filed an FIR under section 174 (3) of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and the victim’s father has filed a complaint against Selvakumar and his mother. Further probe is on and the investigation by Revenue Divisional Officer will also reveal more information into the incident,” he added.
The victim’s father claimed that her body was half charred and nothing else in the house was damaged. “Her husband must have assaulted my daughter and burnt her to death when she collapsed on the floor to make it look like a suicide,” he further said.
Revenue Divisional Officer Rajendran, who inspected the body on Tuesday, said, “Initial inquiry has revealed that the girl died by suicide. But the postmortem report will give us more details and further investigation is under way.”