Homeopath held three months after allegedly killing his girlfriend in Chennai

Chennai: A homeopathy doctor who absconded following the death of his girlfriend in his rented flat here nearly three months ago, was arrested allegedly for causing her death and attempting to cover up the incident by spraying chemicals on her body, police said on Friday.

Police said the 34-year-old doctor identified as Samuel Ebenezer Sampath had pushed his girlfriend Cynthia, 37, who was living with him, following a quarrel with her over the treatment given to her father, Samuel Shankar, 78, from Vellore district.

She fell down sustaining injuries to her head and succumbed later. Getting panicky, Ebenezer sprayed some chemicals to prevent the body from getting decomposed, turned on the air conditioner and fled.

Nearly after three months, the foul stench that emanated from the apartment in Thirumullaivayal here forced the neighbours to complain to the police. Upon opening the door, police found the bodies of Cynthia and her father, who had also moved in with his daughter to continue treatment for his kidney ailments, in a highly decomposed state.

The house remained locked for more than three months and the neighbours initially suspected that the occupants would have vacated but the foul smell made them suspicious enough to raise an alarm.

Meanwhile, Samuel Shankar's relatives filed a ‘missing’ complaint with the police.

The Thirumullaivayal police traced Ebenezer to Kancheepuram based on the call log from Cynthia’s phone and made him come to the police station under the pretext of identifying the decomposed bodies. During interrogation, Ebenezer said he befriended Cynthia on social media and later invited her to stay with him in Chennai to facilitate her father’s dialysis.

She picked up an argument with him over the treatment given to her father, leading to the latter’s death and in a fit of rage, he pushed her down, Ebenezer had told the police.

Police said the autopsy report revealed that Cynthia died after sustaining injuries to the head, while Samuel Shankar died of natural causes.