Kodungaiyur woman strangles husband to death, stages suicide drama

CHENNAI: The city police arrested a 29-year-old woman from Kodungaiyur for murdering her husband and staging it as a suicide, after the postmortem results revealed that the victim was strangled.

The preliminary investigations revealed that the couple had frequent quarrels over the woman's alleged extramarital relationship. While the woman has been arrested, police are investigating to find if she had help from another person in staging the suicide.

The deceased, Manikandan (35), worked as a driver and was married to the accused, Saranya (29), for the last ten years. They had two children, aged 10 and 8. The probe revealed that Manikandan also often returned home inebriated, leading to frequent quarrels between the couple.

On Sunday (Nov 23), neighbours witnessed the man arguing with Saranya. In the middle of the night, Saranya cried and called for help from her neighbours.

She told the neighbours and police that she was sleeping in the hall with her children, and when she woke up in the middle of the night to find the bedroom door open, she discovered that her husband had taken the extreme step and that she had cut the rope.

The police recovered the body and sent it to the Government Stanley Hospital for post-mortem examination, which confirmed that the victim had been strangled.

After questioning, she confessed to the crime, after which the police arrested her, charging her with murder. She was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.