SALEM: A 54-year-old man murdered his daughter at Aathikattur near Maniyakaranpalayam in Salem district on Thursday evening and committed suicide by jumping off a building on Friday early morning.
The deceased have been identified as Priyanka, 15, a class X student and her father K Gopal, 54, from Aathikattur in Edappadi taluk of Salem district.
An officer from Edappadi police station said that Gopal was a vegetable seller and stayed in an apartment built by the slum clearance board at Aathikattur.
Gopal, his wife and daughter Priyanka stayed together.
Since the last one-and-a-half-years Gopal was suffering from mental illness. He was taking treatment at Salem government hospital for the same.
The man’s wife travelled to Dharmapuri for agriculture work and his son G Ramesh Kannan, 19, worked in a bakery at Edappadi and stayed at a relative’s house.
Gopal did not work for the last six months and stayed at home.
On Thursday night, Gopal contacted one of his relatives over phone and informed them that he slit his daughter’s throat and murdered her. However, the relatives refused to believe it.
On Friday morning, when the relatives visited his house at 3.30am, they found Priyanka lying dead in a pool of blood.
Gopal explained to his relatives that he killed his daughter because she called him ‘mental’ just like the others did.
While all the neighbours gathered and witnessed the murder, Gopal immediately reached the third floor of his apartment and committed suicide by jumping off.
A team of officers from Edappadi police station rushed. Sub-inspector Rajendran and other officers sent the two dead bodies to Salem government hospital for post-mortem.
Edappadi police registered a case against Gopal under section 302 (murder) of Indian Penal Code for murdering his daughter and section 174 CrPC for committing suicide.
Further investigation is on.