Suspicious death of girl, 18, turns out to be a murder; brother, mother arrested

Madurai: The suspicious death of a 18-year-old girl who was found hanging at her house in Kayathar in Tuticorin district a few days ago, has turned out to be a murder by her brother and mother over her alleged relationship with a man from Salem district. Police have arrested the brother and mother. Police also denied claims of caste killing.

The deceased girl was identified as Abi Selvi, 18, of South Mayilodai village. According to police sources, the Kayathar police received information that Selvi had allegedly died by suicide by hanging herself at her house on June 9. Police rushed to the spot, recovered the body and sent it to the Tirunelveli Government Medical College Hospital for postmortem. Police had registered a case and were investigating.

During investigation, police officials, from the preliminary findings in the postmortem, found out that there were injuries on her body. This raised suspicion regarding her death. Upon further investigation, police found out that Selvi got acquainted with a man from Salem through social media and was in a relationship with him.

Police also found out that Selvi’s brother Sivagnanam, 20, and her mother Esther Pauline, 36, murdered her following a quarrel over her relationship with the man. When police questioned them, they confessed to the crime. Sivagnanam told police that he murdered Selvi by strangulation and Pauline was an accomplice to the crime. Based on the confession, police arrested the mother-son duo during the late hours of Wednesday. Subsequently, they were remanded in judicial custody.

Senior police officials also denied claims that the murder of Selvi was a caste killing incident. In a statement, Tuticorin district police said that there is no evidence to substantiate caste angle, based on the investigation conducted so far in this case. The information circulating in social media stating that the murder was a caste killing incident is false and unverified.