The accused was arrested and remanded to judicial custody. Representative image showing handcuffs.
Credit: iStock Photo
Chennai: 27-year-old Vetrimaran, who was born as Pandi Maheswari, apparently underwent a sex reassignment surgery to marry his childhood friend R Nandhini, but decided to take her life after he grew suspicious that she might have developed an interest in others.
The gruesome murder took place in Thazhambur on the IT corridor here on Saturday evening after the transman took Nandhini out on the pretext of “surprising” her on the eve of her 27th birthday. An unsuspecting Nandhini, who spent several hours with Vetrimaran visiting an orphanage and a temple, accompanied him to a ground to see what the surprise was.
“Vetri blindfolded Nandini, tied both her legs using a chain with a lock, slashed her wrist with a blade, and set her on fire by pouring kerosene,” a senior police officer who is part of the investigating team, told DH.
The officer added that Vetri was very possessive about Nandhini, and he didn’t like her talking to male colleagues and is believed to have planned the murder for at least a week and executed it on the eve of her birthday as he had hidden all the materials used to kill her in the ground.
When locals rushed to help the girl after hearing her screams, Nandhini kept murmuring Vetri’s name and managed to give his phone number to those who came to rescue her.
“The locals called Vetri. He not just reached the spot immediately but accompanied her to the hospital and stayed there for a while. He managed to escape only when the suspicion turned towards him,” the officer added.
After the girl succumbed to her injuries in the hospital, police’ eyes turned towards Vetri, who confessed to the crime during interrogation.
“Vetri told us during interrogation that the intention behind changing his gender was to marry Nandhini. He began suspecting that Nandhini was talking to other male colleagues, and he wasn’t convinced with her assertion that they were her friends,” another police officer said.
Both officers said it emerged during investigation that Nandhini was not aware of Vetri’s feelings for her and saw him only as a friend. They also clarified that the two were not in a relationship.
Nandhini and Vetri were childhood friends and studied together from Class 1 in their hometown, Madurai. While Vetri left Madurai to pursue his studies after his family didn’t approve of his sex-change surgery, Nandhini continued with her graduation in Madurai and shifted to Chennai for her job.
Vetri too relocated to Chennai from Bengaluru after which the two began hanging out together. Nandhini was staying with her relative in Kannagi Nagar, while Vetri lived in Tambaram and worked in a software firm.
“We knew they were good friends. And I think the only mistake that Nandhini did was to be sympathetic towards Vetrimaran despite his own family disowning him. We never thought he would harm Nandhini,” the victim’s sister, Amudha, said.