Suicide drama busted, driver held for murder of wife

On Saturday night, Jayaraj, who works as a driver, raised an alarm that his wife, Ilakkiya (24), hanged self in the house on Bharathidasan street at Nehru Nagar in Guindy. Jayaraj claimed that he was asleep when she took the extreme step.

She was removed from the noose and rushed to a private hospital in Velachery where she was declared brought dead. Her body was sent to Government Royapettah Hospital for post-mortem examination, and was handed over to Jayaraj who took her body to his hometown in Tiruvannamalai for the funeral.

Guindy police registered a case and requested an inquiry by the Revenue Divisional Officer as the couple got married only a year ago. Meanwhile, the autopsy revealed that Ilakya did not commit suicide but was strangulated to death. Following this, Guindy police led by inspector Chandru rushed to Tiruvannamalai and picked up Jayaraj.

During interrogation, Jayaraj reportedly admitted that he murdered his wife, as she did not allow his parents to stay with them in the city. "Ilakya worked at a mall and was not able to cook at home properly. This led to frequent quarrel between the couple. Ilakya also refused when Jayaraj proposed to bring his parents to the city," said police.

On Saturday night, they went to sleep after an argument. Jayaraj strangulated Ilakya when she was asleep and hanged her from ceiling to stage it as a suicide. He was arrested and remanded in judicial custody on Thursday.