SALEM: A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his father, Palanisamy (47), a daily wage labourer, and Palanisamy’s live-in partner, Jayalakshmi (38), dismembering their bodies, and dumping the parts in two different lakes at Magudanchavadi in Salem.
According to police, Jayalakshmi’s daughter, who was also arrested, had recently confided to the accused Akash that Palanisamy had been sexually harassing her for four years and that her mother knew about this. Enraged, Akash decided to kill both of them, police said.
Akash’s mother, Jayanti, had separated from her husband Palanisamy after some dispute. Subsequently, about four years ago, Palanisamy began living with Jayalakshmi and her daughter, along with Akash, who works at a butcher shop, police said. Probe revealed that Palanisamy had been sexually harassing the girl during this period and though Jayalakshmi was aware of this, she did not stop him.
After Akash came to know about this, he attacked Palanisamy and Jayalakshmi inside the house on August 17 with a butcher’s knife, and chopped the head, legs, and torso from the bodies. He then put the body parts in two different sacks. One sack was dumped in Thalaiyur lake, and the other in Egapuram lake, police sources stated.
For the next few days, villagers grew suspicious as Palanisamy and Jayalakshmi had suddenly gone missing. When asked, Akash gave vague and misleading answers, they said. On Thursday, Akash confessed to the crime to his uncle, who then alerted the police.
Upon information, Magudanchavadi police reached the spot and questioned Akash. He confessed to the murders and told them where he had dumped the bodies. Police teams rushed to the lakes and recovered the sacks containing the dismembered remains.
The bodies were later sent to the Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital in Salem for postmortem. Akash and the girl have both been arrested and remanded in judicial custody. Police said further investigations are on to find out if there were other motives for the killings.