Driver held for killing wife who refused to abort seven-month foetus

VILLUPURAM: Rishivandhiyam police officials on Thursday arrested a 24-year-old driver on charges of killing his seven-month-pregnant

wife

and registering a missing persons complaint to throw the police off guard.

Seenivasan, from Poovanur village near Rishivandhiyam, was detained on Wednesday after he made contradictory statements during inquiry. On further questioning, he confessed to have strangulated his wife, Jeyanthi, after she refused to abort the foetus and divorce him as he had demanded, said police officials.

Police sources said that Seenivasan and 21-year-old Jeyanthi, a nursing student, had been in a three-year relationship. During the time, Seenivasan had impregnated her thrice, but got rid of all three foetuses by forcibly giving her

abortion

pills, after promising to marry her.

In May 2018, when for a fourth time Jeyanthi was 6 months

pregnant

, her parents came to know of the pregnancy and got her married to Seenivasan. However, the man’s parents were opposed to the marriage due to Jeyanthi’s poor financial condition and refrained from talking to their son.

Upset over the strained relationship with his parents for the past month, Seenivasan began demanding Jeyanthi to abort the foetus again and return to her parents, divorcing him. He had also decided to marry a girl of his parents’ choice to appease them.

When Jeyanthi refused to budge, Seenivasan decided to murder her. According to his confession to the police, on June 15th, he took her to a nearby forest in the pretext of visiting a temple there, strangled her using her saree and abandoned the body.

To avoid suspicion of villagers, Jeyanthi’s relatives and the police, he also registered a missing persons complaint the same day with the Rishivandhiyam police. A murder case was registered. Further investigation is on.