Truck driver arrested for murder of transperson in Avadi

CHENNAI: Avadi City Police on Saturday arrested a 48-year-old man, a truck driver in connection with the murder of a transgender person, whose body was found in an abandoned plot behind a petrol bunk off Mathur 200-feet road near Madhavaram on Thursday.

The deceased was identified as Sana alias Saravanan, who was residing at Tsunami nagar in Ennore.

Public alerted authorities about the foul smell emanating from the plot after which police secured Sana's body. Police sources said that her throat was slit. The body was moved to the Government Stanley hospital for autopsy.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the deceased transgender was a commercial sex worker and police suspect her to have been murdered after an altercation with a client.

Madhavaram Milk Colony police who registered a case, arrested R Ganesan (48) of Mahatma Gandhi nagar, in connection with the murder. He had solicited the deceased for sex and murdered her, police said. He was produced before a magistrate and remanded in custody.

Condemning the murder, Grace Banu, a transgender rights activist had stated that there is an increasing trend of killing and disappearances of transgender persons who have no family, social and state security.

"There have been several murders and disappearances in the last three months," she stated in her Twitter account and pointed out at least four instances in the last two months.