Five days after their marriage against the wishes of their families, an inter-caste couple were murdered in broad daylight by the girl’s brother and a relative in Thanjavur district. The incident took place on Monday when the couple were invited for a “wedding feast” by the brother after making them believe that he had “accepted their marriage.”
Mohan (31) and Saranya (24) got married in Chennai last week and visited Kumbakonam, the girl’s native place. They visited Saranya’s house on Monday at the invitation of Sakthivel who has been opposed to their marriage citing caste and the “age difference” between them. While Saranya belongs to Scheduled Caste, Mohan belongs to a Most Backward Class (MBC) from Tiruvannamalai.
“Sakthivel and his family hosted lunch for the newly-wed couple and the gory incident took place when they were getting ready to return to Chennai. Sakthivel hacked Mohan first and they made an attempt to escape. It is when Sakthivel and his brother-in-law Ranjith hacked them to death,” a senior police officer said. It is said Ranjith wanted to marry Saranya.
Police said the duo – Sakthivel and Ranjith – confessed to having killed the couple. “They had kept the sickle ready before they came home for lunch. As per plan, they hacked them to death,” the officer said.
Police sources and villagers said Mohan and Saranya, who was working as a nurse in Chennai, had met a few months ago in a hospital. “They fell in love with each other and wanted to get married. The girl’s family, especially her brother Sakthivel, was opposed to the marriage from the beginning. He wanted Saranya to marry his brother-in-law Ranjith,” a villager said.
The villagers said Mohan came to Saranya’s hamlet a month ago seeking her parent’s permission to marry her. “Even then, Sakthivel was dead opposed to the alliance,” another villager said, adding that the couple got married in Chennai and informed their parents later.
Sakthivel and Ranjith have been booked under various sections of the IPC, including 302 (murder). The ‘honour killing’ has sent shock waves across Tamil Nadu which witnessed another gory murder in the name of honour when 21-year-old Shankar was killed for marrying Kausalya. Kausalya, who also suffered injuries, later transformed herself into an anti-caste activist.