CHENNAI: A 50-year-old woman platform dweller was beaten to death allegedly by a 23-year-old man in Mogappair (East) on Monday night.
The identity of the woman is not known. Probe revealed that she was a rag picker and lived on the platform. The accused, identified as Sheik, is a native of Madurai and also lived on the platform. He made a living by doing menial jobs, police said.
On Tuesday morning, passersby found the woman lying unconscious with blood injuries and alerted the police, after which a team from JJ Nagar police station reached the scene. A few metres away, the accused was also found lying unconscious, police said.
Police moved her to the hospital where she was declared as brought dead. "We have sought a medical report to ascertain if she was sexually assaulted," a police officer said.
Police moved her body to a government hospital for a post-mortem examination. The JJ Nagar police produced the accused, Sheikh, before a magistrate and got him remanded in judicial custody.
In another incident in Neelankarai, a guest worker, Satyendra Kumar (34) of Bihar, was seriously injured after he was assaulted by another guest worker, Deepak Mali (25) of Odisha after a drunken brawl. Police said both were employed as earth mover operators in Akkarai.