VILLUPURAM: A day after a 22-year-old woman killed herself because her family wouldn't let her marry the man she loved, her relatives murdered him near Kottakuppam in
Villupuram
on Monday. After her family decided to get Aruna married to another person, she hanged herself on Sunday.
Her boyfriend Raghavan, 22, who was working in a quarry near Hyderabad, slit his wrists when he heard of her suicide. His employer then sent him home to Peryiakottakupam. His partly burned body was recovered on Monday. Villupuram superintendent of police S Jeyakumar said an eight-man gang led by Aruna's uncle, Padmanabhan, had murdered Raghavan.
Gang douses body with petrol, sets it ablazeSeven of them were arrested on Tuesday.
The SP said Padmanabhan, Aruna’s brother, Arun Kumar, and her cousins, Praveen Kumar and Ranjith Kumar, and four others hatched a plot to murder Raghavan after she committed suicide.
They convinced Raghavan's friend, P Sanjay, 20, to bring him to Kottakuppam on Monday.
When Sanjay brought him to the designated spot along with another friend, Sivanesan, the gang of eight on four motorcycles attacked Sivanesan and abducted Raghavan. They took him to a secluded spot behind a temple at Kottamedu and hacked Raghavan to death. They gang then doused the body with petrol and set it ablaze.
Kottakuppam police registered a case following a complaint from Sivanesan, who also said Sanjay might be involved in the crime.
Police arrested all the accused except Padmanabhan.
They have been remanded in judicial custody.