Madurai youth detained for Mylapore murder

The accused, Suresh Kumar (25) of Madurai, was working as an air conditioner mechanic after finishing school. Police are searching for his friend Subash, who was with him on the day of the incident. Speaking to DTNext, a senior police official said that sudden provocation lead to the murder. 

“Suresh Kumar and Nivedhitha (22), of Veeraperumal Koil Street in Mylapore, had met at the Marina Beach six months ago. The two became friends on Facebook and fell in love. They were keeping touch through phone calls and WhatsApp. The duo have met several times in the past and it was Nivedhitha who booked room 210 on the second floor of Picnic Plaza hotel on R K Mutt Road in Mylapore on Wednesday,” he said. 

Suresh and Subash came to the hotel room and the latter left the hotel after a while. Suresh Kumar was going through Nivedhitha’s mobile phone and began questioning her about a male friend, who Nivedhitha said she was not in touch with. However, Suresh was reportedly angry about it. 

Nivedhitha then began discussing marriage. “Though she insisted on getting married soon, Suresh was not interested,” a police source said. This lead to an argument and in a fit of rage, Suresh strangulated her with a blanket. Suresh then locked the room and left from there. 

Suresh came to the city for work about a year ago but was using a pseudo name Harish on Facebook. Police got his number from Nivedhitha’s phone and found out his real name and address. He was picked up from Mylapore on Saturday.

Police found Nivedhitha’s body, strangulated with a blanket, from room 210 of Picnic Plaza hotel on R K Mutt Road on Thursday night. 

Her father Ethiraj (55) had lodged a complaint with the police saying that she had been missing since Wednesday evening.

It was when the hotel manager, who noticed that no one was entering or leaving the room, got suspicious after noticing Nivedhitha’s scooter parked outside and alerted the police.