Class 1 girl’s death was murder, not accident, stepmom arrested

Ragavi, the deceased, was a Class 1 student at a private school in the locality. The accused was identified as Suriyakala of Tambaram. The police said that Ragavi’s father Parthiban (38), who works in a software firm, had married the child’s mother Saranya 10 years ago. A year after Ragavi’s birth, Saranya died due to health issues.

Later, Parthiban married Suriyakala and the couple has a boy, who is one-and-a-half years old. Recently, Suriyakala informed Parthiban that she was pregnant again. Parthiban asked her to abort it as they already have a son and a daughter already. Suriyakala was upset over this.

She also felt that Parthiban was more concerned about Ragavi than her son and decided to kill her. When Parthiban was in the office on Tuesday evening, Suriyakala attacked Ragavi with a wooden log. After the girl fell unconscious, she strangulated her using a dupatta. Later, she took the body and threw it from the second floor of the apartment.

She then told Parthiban that Ragavi had gone missing. Parthiban, who searched for the girl and spotted her lying unconscious, rushed her to a private hospital in East Tambaram where the doctors declared her dead on arrival.

On information, the Selaiyur police, who visited the spot, conducted inquires with the couple. As Suriyakala’s replies were evasive, the cops grilled her further. The police also said that the wall was quite high, making her claim that the girl slipped from the terrace unlikely.

On Wednesday morning, police detained Suriyakala, who reportedly confessed to killing Ragavi. The post-mortem report also confirmed that the girl was strangulated to death. Suriyakala was arrested and remanded in judicial custody.