COIMBATORE: A 46-year-old man hacked his wife, a government school teacher, to death right in front of students inside the school premises, and later poisoned their three-year-old daughter before killing himself, in Salem on Monday.
Police said Sri Vidya (44), working as an intermediate teacher in Kamalapuram Government Higher Secondary School near Omalur, was on invigilation duty at an examination hall. She had also brought her daughter, Ashoka Sivasundari, to the school.
When some students told her that someone had come to meet her, an unsuspecting Sri Vidya stepped out of the classroom. Suddenly, Vijayamurugan, who runs a meat stall, attacked her with a butcher’s knife. She collapsed to death on the spot, while the students stood in shock.
The accused, who had entered the school by scaling over its compound wall, fled the spot with his daughter. Later in the evening, the father and child were found dead in a farm land, a little distance away from the school. Police said he gave poison to his daughter and then consumed it himself.
Police said Vijayamurugan, who was already married, had married Sri Vidya after being in a relationship. However, they quarrelled frequently, as he suspected her fidelity.
Unable to bear his torture and assaults, she lodged a complaint against him at Tholasampatty station and a case was registered against him in February. Since then, she has been living with her daughter in Kamaraj Nagar.
The bodies of the couple and their daughter have been sent to Salem Government Hospital for post-mortem examination. Further inquiries are under way.