DINDIGUL: A woman’s alleged illicit relationship has led to the death of four members of her family, as her mother and grandmother killed themselves after strangulating the woman’s two minor daughters, aged five and seven, at Oddanchatram in Dindigul district on Wednesday morning.
According to police sources, Kaleeswari (45) was residing with daughter Pavithra (25) and mother Chellammal (65) at Chinna Kulipatti village of Oddanchatram after her husband’s death several years ago. The woman had married off Pavithra to Prabhakaran, a trader from Aravakuruchi in Karur, 10 years ago.
After the marriage, disputes broke out between Pavithra and Prabhakaran and the couple often quarrelled, sources said. Last April, Pavithra, along with two minor daughters, Lathikasri (7) and Deepthi (5), walked out of her husband’s house and moved to her mother’s home at Oddanchatram.
Upset over the daughter’s decision, Kaleeswari and Chellammal made efforts to revive the marriage with Prabhakaran, but it failed.
Meanwhile, Pavithra allegedly got into a relationship with another man. This led to repeated arguments with her mother and grandmother. Local villagers also attempted to resolve the issue, but their efforts failed.
On Tuesday, Pavithra abandoned her children and eloped with the man, sources said. This caused severe stress to the two elderly women as they felt that Pavithra’s relationship had brought disrepute to the family.
According to police sources, the two women strangled the minor girls to death and later committed suicide on Tuesday. Neighbours who grew suspicious as the house remained shut for a long time on Wednesday, informed the Idayakottai police station.
A police team later broken open the door and found the women and children dead. The bodies of the victims were transported to Dindigul Medical College Hospital for postmortem. A case has been filed, and further probe is on.
(In case of suicidal thoughts, contact health department’s helpline 104)