19-year-old student strangled by boyfriend in Chennai, later dies by suicide

CHENNAI: A 19-year-old college student was strangled to death by her boyfriend, also aged 19, who then died by suicide at a house they had rented in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Perambur, on Monday night, police said. The couple, T Abinaya and S Akash, were college mates in Villupuram’s Arignar Anna Arts College and had come to Chennai a little over a week ago after telling their parents they were going to the city to take up part-time jobs to support their families, reports Harine A S.With a friend’s help, Akash and Abinaya moved into the house in Chennai, saying they were married.The incident came to light on Monday night after a neighbour saw the teenager hanging from the ceiling through a window. The neighbour alerted police, who broke the door open and found Abinaya on the floor with injuries to the neck and face.Both bodies were taken to the Govt Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital for postmortem. Police suspect Akash and Abinaya quarrelled and he strangled her before ending his life.TOI spoke to Abinaya’s family at KMCH, and they said they didn’t know she was staying with Akash in the city. “She told us that she was going to Chennai to work as a home nurse to support the family financially,” a family member said. “We only learned about their relationship after receiving a call from police. I spoke to her nine days ago,” said T Anjalai, Abinaya’s mother.However, Akash’s brother, Tamizhmaaran, told police that both families knew of their relationship and that they opposed the couple’s marriage. He said he was unable to contact them for the past two weeks.Preliminary investigations revealed that Abinaya’s brother, Premkumar, is scheduled to get engaged this Friday, and she wished to attend the function, which Akash opposed. Police suspect an argument over this ended in the double death.The ICF police have registered a case of murder.