DHARMAPURI: A 43-year-old man was arrested for hacking his mother and daughter to death in the late hours of Friday.
Pallipatti police said, "On Friday, D Umarani (63) and her daughter S Chinmai (18) were hacked to death by Umarani's son, D Suresh (43) who was allegedly in an inebriated state. Suresh has been arrested."
Suresh, a native of Adhigarapatti village near Ammannagar, works as a cook near Pappireddipatti. Suresh had separated from his wife, S Shalini (40), due to his alcoholism and was living alone. The couple's daughter, Chinmai (18), a nursing student, was living with her grandmother, Umarani, next door.
On Friday night, while Chinmai brought food to Suresh, he argued about her spending lots of time on the phone and keeping in touch with her mother. As the quarrel escalated, Suresh took a sickle from his home and hacked Chinmai, who lost consciousness. On hearing the commotion, Umarani rushed inside. She found Suresh holding a sickle and attempted to rescue her granddaughter. Enraged, Suresh attacked Umarani, who sustained grievous injuries in the head and neck and died on the spot.
Meanwhile, neighbours alerted the police. Officers arrived immediately, rescued Chinmai, rushed her to the government hospital in Pappireddipatti for first aid and transferred her to the Dharmapuri Medical College hospital after her condition worsened. On Saturday evening, Chinmai also succumbed to her injuries.