Salem: Man ends life after killing girlfriend, her son

COIMABTORE: A 42-year-old man murdered a 10-year-old boy and his mother before taking his own life in Salem.

The police have identified the deceased boy as R Kishanth, a Class 5 student at a government school near Karuthanur, his mother Sathya (33), wife of Raj Kumar from Kamalapuram, and the man as Sakthivel.

According to the police, Sathya, who had been living separately from her husband for the past two years, was allegedly in a relationship with Sakthivel, a resident of Vellalapatti Colony in Karuppur. Both Sathya and Sakthivel were employed at a home appliances showroom in Omalur.

Over the past three months, Sathya had distanced from him following a misunderstanding between them. A distressed Sakthivel went to her residence on Thursday night. Though he knocked on the door, Sathya took considerably long to open. He barged into the house and stabbed the boy first, and when the mother tried to stop him, he stabbed her too, severing her wrist from the arm. He then fled the scene.

Hearing Sathya and her son’s loud cries, neighbours rushed to their house and shifted both of them to Omalur Government Hospital. The boy was declared brought dead while Sathya was shifted to the Salem Government Hospital, where she succumbed on Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, special police teams launched a search for Sathikvel only to find him hanging dead from a tree at a deserted area in Korimedu near Vellalapatti on Friday morning. Initial probe revealed Sathikvel was married and had two children. The Karuppur police sent the body for a post-mortem at Salem GH.

The police said Sathya’s 13-year-old daughter was saved as she was away on vacation at a relative’s house. A case has been registered and further probe is on.