Insurance employee stabbed to death by student

CHENNAI: A 30-year-old employee of a private insurance company was stabbed to death by an engineering student at a guesthouse in Choolaimedu on Tuesday. Police cited previous enmity as motive for the murder.The victim, R Rajesh, who works as finance manager in Bajaj Allianz in Ambattur, fell out with Vikesh Varghese, a second-year civil engineering student in MGR Deemed University, four months ago. The two stayed in separate rooms on the first floor in Sri Vidya Guesthouse on First Street in Loganathan Nagar, police said. Rajesh was a native of Alappuzha in Kerala, while the student hailed from Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, they added.Tension started brewing between the two men, when Rajesh reportedly teased and goaded Vikesh on some issues. It led to frequent quarrels and Rajesh was shifted to another room on the second floor, while the student was asked to quit the guesthouse. Since then, Vikesh had been staying away from the place, according to the police.On Tuesday, the engineering student arrived at the guesthouse around 10.45 am, only to be stopped at the gate by manager P Ganesan (50). A native of Tiruvannamalai, Ganesan had been working as manager of the guesthouse for the last one-and-a-half years and he questioned Vikesh’s presence there. The student reportedly claimed to have come to meet Rajesh, saying he had patched up with the insurance company employee.About 15 minutes later, Ganesan told the police that he rushed up to Rajesh’s room after he got a call from another guest Vincent, who also stayed on the third floor. On looking through the window, he saw Rajesh lying in a pool of blood on the floor near the door. He had been stabbed on the chest. Locking Vikesh inside the room, Ganesan called the police, who arrested Vikesh under Section 302 (murder) of IPC. Police sent Rajesh’s body to the Stanley medical college and hospital for autopsy and informed his father M K Rajappan.