CHENNAI: Two women were arrested on Thursday after a 19-year-old woman working in their house was found dead in the house with several marks of injuries all over her body. Police said the victim Mahalakshmi, an orphan hailing from Andhra Pradesh, had died at the house in Besant Nagar at around 2 pm on Wednesday, but the family informed the police after several hours of delay fearing the injury marks on her body would raise suspicion.
After hours of enquiry, police said they found that Mahalakshmi had been tortured over the last couple of years by her employer Sushmitha (46) and Sushmitha’s niece Mithra (20). However, the immediate cause for her death was her poor health and the alleged failure of Sushmitha and Mithra to take her to a hospital. “On Tuesday morning, Mahalakshmi had told them she was sick. But they just called a nurse from a private hospital to the house and administered IV injection. It seems her health condition worsened and she died on Wednesday afternoon,” said a senior police officer.
Police said the family had initially tried to cover up the death as a natural one and attempted to hide the injury marks on Mahalakshmi’s body. They had also switched off the CCTV cameras installed in the house. After nearly eight hours of delay, only once Sushmitha’s husband Muruganantham reached the house, did the family inform the police at around 10 pm on Wednesday.“Their answers were contradictory when questioned about the circumstances around the girl’s death. There were several injury marks on Mahalakshmi’s hands and legs. She had blood clots and heat boils. It appears she had been assaulted with knives,” an investigating officer said.
The family was from Andhra Pradesh and took Mahalakshmi nearly two years ago from a relative’s house at AP. Mahalakshmi was an orphan. “Sushmitha, and Mithra who occasionally visits Chennai, had been torturing the girl brutally. They would hit her often with various things. Sushmitha would even encourage her eight-year-old son to beat Mahalakshmi,” said another officer.