20-year-old girl stabbed to death for gold chain

CHENNAI: A 20-year-old college girl was murdered inside her house allegedly by a construction labourer while he tried to rob her of a gold chain in Poonamallee on Monday. The police detained the suspect near Chengalpattu, when he was fleeing to his hometown.

The deceased was identified as C Meena, a resident of Kattupakkam near Poonamallee. Police said that she was pursuing second year BSc Maths in a private college in Kodambakkam and was the only daughter of Chandrasekar and Dhanalakshmi. The accused was identified as Shanmugam (49) from Tiruvannamalai.

“The incident happened on Monday afternoon when Meena’s parents were at work. Since colleges are closed, Meena was home. There was construction work taking on the first floor of their house. Finding Meena’s phone switched off, Dhanalakshmi alerted a neighbour,” said a police officer. 

Police said the neighbour was shocked to see Meena lying in a pool of blood inside the house and informed her mother. Dhanalakshmi rushed home and alerted the police. Noticing that the victim’s two-sovereign chain and mobile phone were missing, the police questioned construction labourers at the spot and came to know that mason Shanmugam, who went to bring an additional worker, did not return. 

His phone was switched off and the police rushed to his house and found it locked. Upon entering, the police found a blood-stained shirt and Meena’s phone. It transpired that Shanmugam took a friend’s bike to go to his hometown. Immediately, the police formed a special team to nab him, and he was secured near Chengalpattu on Monday night.

“He pledged the chain and was taking the money home to settle some loans,” said the police. The chain was recovered. Police said that Shanmugam wanted to retrieve some jewellery he had pledged and decided to rob the gold chain from Meena. “Since she raised an alarm, he stabbed her on the neck and escaped with the chain. The girl was not subjected to any kind of sexual assault,” said an officer. He was remanded in judicial custody on Tuesday.