A software engineer was chained, cut and burnt alive on the eve of her birthday by a childhood classmate in Thalambur near Kelambakkam, Chennai’s southern outskirts on Saturday, police said.
The victim, R Nandhini — would have turned 26 — was killed by one of her schoolmates, who had gone through a sex-change process to marry her.
Police arrested Vetrimaran, an MBA graduate, who before undergoing sex-change was Pandi Murugeshwari, for killing Nandhini. Both of them studied in Madurai in the same girls school and also shared a close friendship.
However, Nandhini turned down Vetrimaran’s proposals despite his repeated persuasions, leading to their fall out. Even after all this, the two stayed in touch, a Times of India report said.
Eight months ago, after completing a BSc degree in information technology, Nandhini got a job in Chennai and was staying with her uncle in the city.
The transexual man on Saturday called and asked Nandhini to spend some time with him. Reportedly, when the two met, the accused brought her new clothes and also took her to an orphanage near Tambaram and made a donation.
He insisted on dropping her back home and stopped at a deserted place at Ponmar on the way.
Vetrimaran asked Nandhini to strike a pose for pictures in that deserted area. He then brought out the chains from his bike, tied her hands and feet, while telling her that it was for fun.
Later, he refused to release Nandhini despite her appeals. He slit her neck and arms with a blade before pouring over a bottle of petrol on her and setting her on fire.
He fled the spot after committing the crime, police said.
After some time, people of the area found Nandhini struggling to hold on to her life and called police. Before passing out, she had given them Vetrimaran’s number to call.
When the police called him, he came down to the crime scene and told them that Nandhini is his friend. He even went with the police team and residents of the area while taking Nandhini to Chromepet’s government hospital.
Nandhini succumbed to her injuries late on Saturday, but by then, Vetrimaran had gone missing.
He was tracked down and nabbed by police on Sunday. One of the officers involved in the probe said that Vetrimaran showed no remorse for his actions and was calm.
In his statement to the police, he said that he was upset over Nandhini refusing to be in a relationship with him. Vetrimaran went through with a sex-change process at a private hospital a few years back, however Nandhini told him that they had no future together.
In recent times, she had grown close to one of her colleagues and that’s when Vetrimaran decided to kill her, police said.
The accused is in judicial custody and further investigation is underway.
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