RANIPET: A 30-year-old man from Walajapet taluk allegedly murdered three persons — his mother-in-law and parents of a man he suspected his estranged wife was close to — on Wednesday night before surrendering to police the next morning.
The accused, C Balu, a farmer from Kodaikkal village, walked into the Walajapet police station early on Thursday and confessed to the murders, according to police. The deceased have been identified as R Bharathi (45), mother of Balu’s wife B Bhuvaneshwari (26), and Annamalai (52) and Rajeshwari (45), parents of one A Vijay (26), police said.
Balu and Bhuvaneshwari had been estranged for over a year due to ongoing domestic disputes, allegedly stemming from Balu’s alcoholism. Bhuvaneshwari had moved to her mother’s house in Keel Pudhupettai with their two-year-old child, police added.
According to preliminary investigations, Balu recently came to know that Bhuvaneshwari was over eight months pregnant. Suspecting that she may have been in a relationship with Vijay, who is his relative as per sources, Balu had allegedly confronted her on multiple occasions.
On Wednesday night, under the influence of alcohol, Balu went to his mother-in-law's residence and attempted to attack his wife with an iron rod, police said. When her mother, Bharathi, attempted to stop him, she was fatally injured. Other family members managed to escape, they added.
Balu then travelled to Vijay’s residence in Kodaikkal. As Vijay was not at home, Balu attacked and killed his parents, Annamalai and Rajeshwari, with the same weapon, police said.
Following the incident, Balu approached the Walajapet police along with his lawyer and surrendered. The three bodies were sent to the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore for autopsy.
An FIR has been registered, and an investigation is under way.