KRISHNAGIRI: A 37-year-old man Kannan (name changed) was arrested by Bagalur police on Sunday evening for allegedly beating his 16-year-old daughter to death while drunk over her relationship with a youth.
The girl’s mother (34) and maternal aunt (37) were also arrested. The victim Radha (name changed) was a class 11 student at a government higher secondary school. According to police, she was in a relationship with a 25-year-old man Mohan (name changed) belonging to the same Adi Dravidar community from another village.
A few months ago, Mohan and Kannan got into an argument over the relationship. On Wednesday, a teacher from Radha’s school informed Kannan that she was absent. Kannan called Mohan who said Radha was with him and he would drop her home in the evening, police said.
On Wednesday night, Kannan, who was drunk, got into a heated argument with Radha, demanding she end the relationship. As Radha refused, Kannan allegedly beat her. She fell and hit her head on the bed and died, police said.
In the early hours of Thursday, Kannan informed Mohan that Radha was missing and both men visited the Hosur AWPS but did not give any complaint, police said. As Mohan grew suspicious and tried to gather CCTV footage in the locality.
On Friday night, villagers near Pattavarapalli saw a body in the lake and informed police. The body was recovered late Friday night and sent for postmortem examination at the Hosur government hospital.
During police inquiry, Kannan confessed to murdering Radha in drunken state, police claimed. On Sunday evening, Bagalur police arrested the trio.