MADURAI: After the horrendous double murder of the newly married bride and groom in Thoothukudi on Thursday evening, SIPCOT police picked up the father of the bride for interrogation, sources said on Friday.
Earlier, Muthuramalingam, the bride’s father, and his family members raised strong objections to the marriage of his daughter Karthika (21) with Mari Selvam (22), who worked for a private shipping company and resided in Murugesan Nagar. Muthuramalingam was said to have employed hired killers to murder the newlywed couple, who were in a relationship before the marriage. But, after her father forbade their relationship, the couple eloped and married on October 30. They were of the same caste.
A few weeks ago, Mari Selvam, who’s not economically sound, approached Karthika’s family with his marriage proposal but was rejected. After the pair’s elopement, the enraged father Muthuramalingam hatched a plot and murdered Mari Selvam and his daughter Karthika, according to police sources.
On Thursday, an armed gang trespassed into their house at Thiru Vi Ka Nagar at around 6 p.m. and killed them. The gang of about six unidentified men, who moved in on two bikes and were carrying machetes, hacked the couple to death and fled the scene.
Superintendent of Police L. Balaji Saravanan, after inspecting the scene of the crime, formed three special teams to nab the assailants. The investigating team is checking CCTV footage. Based on a complaint by the father of Mari Selvam, the deceased, SIPCOT police filed a case, sources said.