CHENNAI: A migrant girl's death, initially believed to be a suicide, was confirmed as a murder case based on her autopsy report. The Kundrathur police have arrested her boyfriend and his friend, and a third person is on the run. All of them hail from Jharkhand.

Soma Koba (19) entered into a relationship with the 16-year-old migrant girl after they met at a private industrial unit and lived together in Nandambakkam with two other men - Sunil Kope (19) and Baccha (19).

According to police, after the girl found Koba chatting with another woman, the couple frequently quarrelled, and it particularly escalated on March 29. Koba, with the help of his roommates, strangled the girl with her dupatta and staged it as a suicide by hanging her from the ceiling.

However, the post-mortem report revealed signs of strangulation and confirmed the presence of antemortem injuries, establishing it as a murder.

Following this, the police altered the case to murder and arrested Soma Koba and Sunil Kope. Koba was also booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

During interrogation, the duo reportedly confessed to the crime, stating they killed the girl because she repeatedly confronted Koba about his involvement with another woman. The search is on for the third suspect.