A 50-year-old woman who was reportedly tortured for several years by her husband, a habitual drunkard, in a fit or rage killed him by smothering with a pillow at their house in Arumuganeri, near here, on Thursday.
Sources said that Veerapandi (55) and Lakshmi (50), who got married 28 years ago, were living at Arumuganeri. Veerapandi was a sanitary worker at the Municipality. The couple had three sons. Veerapandi spent all his earnings on liquor . So Lakshmi was running the family with financial help from her sons.
On Wednesday night too, Veerapandi had come home drunk and had beaten Lakshmi. Frustrated by this, Lakshmi during the early hours of Thursday took a grind stone and threw it on her husband. As Veerapandi did not die Lakshmi smothered him with a pillow and killed him. After that, she also tried to commit suicide. One of their sons who found Lakshmi lying unconscious rushed her to the hospital.