PhD scholar kills Chennai college staffer for bugging her to marry him

CHENNAI: In a ghastly passion crime, a 26-year-old research student and her boyfriend stabbed an engineering college

staffer

multiple times in broad daylight at

Kelambakkam

, killing him on the spot.

Police identified the suspects as J Desapriya, 26, a research scholar in physics department in a private college in Kalavakkam, and her friend S Arun Pandian, 27, a research scholar in a university at

Kattankulathur

and a native of Ulundhurpet.

Police said they murdered K Senthil, 43, of Melapuliyur in Perambalur district because he bugged the woman to marry him though he was already married for seven years. After the incident happened in full public view, bystanders chased and nabbed the couple and handed them over to police.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Desapriya and Senthil had been known to each other since the time she was doing her graduation in the private university in Kattankulathur. She broke up with him after she came to know that Senthil was already married. However, Senthil kept stalking Desapriya and tried to compel her into marrying him, claiming that he could convince his wife saying since they remained childless for seven years he was constrained to marry Desapriya.

"When Desapriya started to avoid him during lockdown, Senthil threatened her several times saying he would upload their photos online," said an investigating officer. Desapriya reported the matter to Arun Pandian.

Originally, the duo planned to take Senthil elsewhere and murder him. On Thursday at around 1.30pm, Desapriya called Senthil to come to her college and the two were talking when Arun Pandian joined them.

Quoting eye witnesses, police said that after a heated argument among the trio, Desapriya and Arun Pandian slit Senthil’s throat. When he started his bike and escape, they chased him and stabbed him repeatedly with two knives until he bled to death on the spot.

The Kelambakkam police arrested the two.