College prof dressed as beggar attempts to eliminate wife, held

CHENNAI: A 56-year-old government college professor posed as a beggar and inflicted cut injuries on his wife, a staff in an engineering college, near Egmore on Thursday night, irate over the domestic issues in their marriage.

M Kumarasamy, who is an assistant professor of history in Government arts college for men, Nandanam had dressed up shabbily and covered his face with a woolen cap.

As his wife was walking back home after alighting from the MTC bus in Egmore, Kumarasamy in his disguise walked towards his wife and hurled verbal abuses at her. As she tried to walk past him, he took a blade he was carrying and slashed her. "He tried to cause injuries on her face, but she covered it with her hand and suffered injuries on her hand," a police officer said.

The incident happened around 7 pm and on hearing the woman's cries, a crowd gathered, before which Kumarasamy fled the scene. Public moved the woman to a nearby hospital for treatment. Though Kumarasamy was in disguise, his wife suspected him to have been behind the act after which Egmore Police apprehended him. During investigations, he confessed to his crime after which he was arrested.

Police said that the college professor was upset with his wife over her frequent phone calls with male friends and the issue had simmered between the couple for a few months now.

The couple almost have two decades of age difference between them. "The woman was a student when she got married to Kumarasamy, who was a family friend," a police officer said. The couple got married about 12 years ago and have two sons and a daughter.

Egmore Police booked the professor under charges including attempt to murder and sections of TNPWH (Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Woman Harassment Act). He was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.