After bid to kill ‘lover’s’ family fails, man ends life

CHENNAI: A 22-year-old man, who allegedly attempted to kill a girl’s family by setting them ablaze, killed himself by slitting his throat in front of her house at Valasaravakkam in the early hours of Saturday. According to the police, the deceased identified as G Jeevanandam from Ariyalur was a horticulture graduate. Both his parents had died few years ago, said the police.

In 2018, he met a 21-year-old girl, Lakshmi* (name changed) from Valasaravakkam in a college conference in Gujarat. Lakshmi was also a horticulture student and a year younger to the deceased. “The duo have been in touch since then and Jeevanandam had visited the girl’s family as a friend twice earlier,” said a police officer.

“Recently the girl was taken aback when Jeevanandam told her that he had feelings for her. The girl had made it clear that she had seen him only as a friend and nothing else.” On September 29, Jeevanandam had come to the city to run some errands. He had stayed at the girl’s house since the duo had sorted out the issues between them.

The girl lives with her parents, younger sister and a toddler cousin brother. “The boy was sleeping in the hall, and at around 3.15 am on Saturday the girl’s father woke up to the smell of cooking gas. He was shocked to find Jeevanandham standing inside the room with a gas cylinder fitted with the regulator and rubber hose. Jeevanandham allegedly opened the regulator and lit the lighter and fire gazed out from the hose,” said the police officer quoting the girl’s father.

The girl’s father managed to push Jeevanandham out of their house and latched the door. Later he alerted the city police control room about the incident. Before the police arrived at the place, the man must have slit his throat, added the officer. A police patrol team found him lying unconscious in the corridor and they sent him to the Government Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) hospital, where the doctors declared him dead on arrival. The Valasaravakkam police have registered a case.