CHENNAI: A 57-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly murdering her husband and dumping his body in a sewage channel near Annai Sathya Nagar in Anna Nagar. The police said the woman kept the body inside her house and had dumped it only after around six days.
The murder came to light on March 5 after residents alerted authorities about a foul smell emanating from the sewage channel. Acting on the information, the Anna Nagar police reached the spot and recovered the decomposed body, and sent it to Kilpauk Medical College and Government Hospital for postmortem.
During the investigation, the deceased was identified as Selvam (60), a native of Chidambaram who had been working as a security guard for a private firm in Chennai. The police said Selvam was addicted to alcohol and had frequently harassed his wife Ambika (57), who works as a domestic help in the neighbourhood. The couple has no children, they said.
Investigators said nearly five days before the body was found, Selvam allegedly returned home drunk and picked a quarrel with his wife. During the argument, Ambika allegedly took a knife and stabbed him in the stomach. Selvam died on the spot.
The police said once Ambika realised that man was dead, she panicked as she did not know how to dispose the body. She allegedly kept the corpse inside the house for nearly six days, covering it with a sheet.
When the body started decomposing, she allegedly stuffed it in a plastic bag and dragged it to the nearby sewage channel before dumping it there around 4.45 am on March 5.
The investigators zeroed in on Ambika as they saw her dragging a large sack towards the canal while examining the CCTV footage in the area. A case has been registered against the woman under relevant sections related to murder. She was remanded in judicial custody in Puzhal prison.