Tamil Nadu man beheads husband of woman whom he wanted to marry

TUTICORIN: A man murdered a TV mechanic in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday for marrying a woman whom he had wanted to marry.
The Ettayapuram police arrested K Anandraj, 22, of Cholapuram, and recovered two knives from him. Anandraj is a catering graduate who cooked at events and slaughtered goats at temple festivals.
He beheaded S Ragahavan, 31, of Kumaragiri Pudur who worked as a mechanic in a television service centre owned by his relative at Naduvirpatti near Ettayapuram Government Hospital.
Two years ago, Ragahavan befriended Mahalakshmi, 21, when she was studying in a typewriting institute near his television service centre. They fell in love. Families of the duo strongly objected their relationship as they belonged to different castes.
Anandraj, who belongs to the community of Mahalakshmi, expressed his interest in marrying her. He was upset that Mahalakshmi turned him down and made it clear that she would marry Raghavan. Two months ago, Raghavan married Mahalakshmi despite opposition from the families.
Anandraj hatched a plan to murder Raghavan. About a week ago, he took a faulty LED television to the latter’s TV service centre to get it fixed. He called Raghavan everyday under the pretext of checking if the television was fixed. On Tuesday, Ragahvan asked Anandraj to collect the television on Wednesday. Around 11 am, Anandraj reached the service centre with a shopper bag in which he had kept two knives and chilli powder.
Anandraj picked up an argument with Raghavan over his marriage with Mahalakshmi. He threw chilli powder on the mechanic’s face and attacked him with a knife. He beheaded him and threw his head on the road.
Superintendent of police of Tuticorin district S Jayakumar visited the place, conducted preliminary investigations and formed a team to nab the accused. Later, Anandraj was arrested.
Raghavan’s body was sent to Thoothukudi Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.