Chennai police arrest six in murder of delivery agent, including wife and mother-in-law

CHENNAI: The city police have made the sixth arrest in connection with the murder of a food delivery executive. The 45-year-old mother-in-law of the deceased was arrested for her involvement in the murder bid that involved her sons and their cousins.

R Kalaiarasan (23), a former resident of the LIG flats in 7th Avenue, Ashok Nagar, was married to Thamizharasi three years ago and has a child. Due to marital discord, Kalaiarasan separated from her about a year-and-a-half ago, leaving Thamizharasi to raise their three-year-old alone. This did not sit well with her family and led to frequent skirmishes as the family lived in the same locality as him.

When Kalaiarasan was walking along 8th Avenue in Ashok Nagar Pudur in the early hours of June 15, two men wielding machetes approached him in a bike and attacked him.

As the two fled, passersby rescued Kalaiarasan and rushed him to the Government Royapettah Hospital, where he succumbed without responding to treatment on June 21.

Ashok Nagar police had already arrested three youths, S Sanjay (18), S Sakthivel (20) and V Sunil Kumar (20), on attempt to murder charges, and altered the sections to murder and booked the three youths.

A probe into Kalaiarasan's murder revealed that Thamizharasi's family was upset as he got separated from her. In 2024, Thamizharasi's brother, Sakthivel (now arrested for murder), had already had a public fallout with the deceased in which both of them engaged in fisticuffs. Both Sakthivel and Kalaiarasan were jailed in the case.

Meanwhile, on the night of June 14, Sakthivel was with his younger brother Sanjay (18) and his cousin, K Sanjay (19), when the three of them confronted the deceased and went their ways.

The deceased had verbally abused the sister and declared that he would not get back with her, which had made them angry, following which the brothers engaged in the murderous attack on June 15.

K Sanjay (19) was arrested last Thursday. Subsequently, Ashok Nagar police have arrested the deceased's wife, Thamizharasi, and on Saturday, her mother, Santhiya (45), was arrested too, as they were aware of the plot to kill Kalaiarasan and were part of the murder, police said.