45-Year-Old Woman Hacked To Death at Home in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi, Police Arrests Suspect

Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu: A 45-year-old woman was hacked to death at her house in Kandan Colony in Thoothukudi, police said on Wednesday.

Police have arrested a suspect and have launched an investigation into the murder.

The deceased, identified as Sasikala, wife of Chithiraivel, was alone at her house on the third street of Kandan Colony, near the Third Mile area, when the incident took place.

Thoothukudi District Superintendent of Police Siva Prasad said police received information about the murder at around 2.30 pm and immediately launched an operation.

“Today afternoon around 2:30 we got information that a lady named Sasikala was found murdered in her house in Tuticorin South Limit Kandan Nagar. So immediately the police team swung into action, and the accused was arrested,” the SP said.

The police identified the arrested suspect as Vignesh Chandra Munees, a close relative of the deceased, and said the motive behind the murder was yet to be ascertained.

“The motive is yet to be ascertained, but the property which was stolen from the deceased is also being recovered,” he said.

Meanwhile, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin raised concerns over the law and order situation in Thoothukudi following the murder. In a post on X, Stalin claimed that seven murders had taken place in the district in four days and questioned the district police over the incidents.

“A woman named Sasikala, who was alone at home in the Kandhan Colony in Thoothukudi, has been hacked to death. Seven murders in Thoothukudi in four days! What bizarre explanation are the district police going to issue for this?” Stalin said in the post.

He further criticised the state of public safety, asking whether people had been pushed into a situation where they feared staying inside their homes.

"If we see that there's no safety outside and no one can walk around peacefully, isn't it the achievement of the DMK to have pushed people into a state where they fear even staying inside their homes?" he asked.