CHENNAI: A 24-year-old man allegedly murdered his ex-boyfriend and died by suicide at Mogappair in Chennai. The man, identified as Vanjinathan from Ambattur, had ended the relationship after his family had fixed his marriage with a woman, police said. The victim was identified as Lokesh (25) from Aminjikarai.
Lokesh worked at a call centre and Vanjinathan was employed as a software engineer at a private company in Thoraipakkam. They had met through an online dating portal for men and were in a relationship for over a year. “Later, both their families came to know about the relationship and confronted them. As the men refused to break up, Vanjinathan’s family decided to get him married to a woman in their native,” said a senior police officer.
The family confirmed the proposal and also held the engagement. Vanjinathan then ended his relationship with Lokesh. “However, Lokesh kept insisting on meeting Vanjinathan and they had been fighting over the phone for the past two weeks,” the police said, quoting the men’s parents.
“On Tuesday, Lokesh, who was supposed to return home by evening, had not returned by 11.30 pm and his mobile phone was switched off. His parents lodged a complaint at Aminjikarai police station. Meanwhile, Vanjinathan’s parents were also searching for him and they contacted Lokesh’s family. Around this time, Vanjinathan’s sister received a voice note from him saying that he had decided to end his life,” they added.
Using their mobile numbers, the police traced the men to a lodge in Paneer Nagar in Mogappair West. Police recovered both the bodies from the room and sent them to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital for postmortem. Nolambur police registered a case and held inquiries. After a preliminary investigation, police said the duo must have fought inside the room and in the melee, Vanjinathan strangled Lokesh with a shoelace before ending his life.
Two arrested for forging documents to sell land
Two men were arrested by the Central Crime Branch-Avadi on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the swindling of a land parcel from a 61-year-old man using forged documents. The plot measuring 4,793 sq.ft worth Rs 1.5 crore is located at Kallikuppam in Ambattur. The suspects were identified as E Pooncholai (36) of Thiruvannamalai and B Prem Kumar (36) of Puthagaram.
According to the police, the victim, Rajaram (61) of Ambattur decided to construct a building on his 4,793 sq.ft plot. “However, during the documentation process, he learnt that a woman named Viji had obtained the land’s encumbrance certificate by forging documents and claiming to be Rajaram’s sister.
Viji then sold the land portions to three people,” they added. Based on Rajaram’s complaint, police have arrested two men for allegedly helping Viji to forge the documents. Further investigation is underway.
(Assistance for those having suicidal thoughts is available in Tamil Nadu’s health helpline 104 and Sneha helpline 044-24640050)