CHENNAI: A woman beat up and strangled her husband's partner, an assistant professor at a polytechnic in Choolaimedu, in their Thiruverkadu home on Thursday, police said. A court later remanded the accused, 32-year-old Shruti, in judicial custody.

Police said Sambasivam, a professor at Panimalar Engineering College in Poonamallee, used to bring Rajalakshmi, home frequently and introduced her to his wife Shruti as a colleague. He even dropped her home at night. The polytechnic where Rajalakshmi worked was part of the Panimalar group of educational institutions. Shruti initially believed the two were just colleagues until Sambasivam came home with Rajalakshmi on Tuesday and said the woman was moving in with them permanently.

On Wednesday morning, Sambasivam allegedly tied a 'mangalsutra' to Rajalakshmi in front of his wife, police said, based on Shruti's confession. A shocked Shruti picked up a fight with Sambasivam who asked her to maintain a cordial relationship and take care of Rajalakshmi. On Thursday morning, after he left for college a fight broke out between the two women.

Police said Rajalakshmi allegedly abused Sruthi and went into the bathroom. Sruthi followed her in and strangled her with the 'mangalsutra'. She then tried to make it appear that the woman had fainted in the bathroom. She took her in an autorickshaw to a nearby hospital where she was declared 'brought dead'. Doctors who noticed a few marks around her neck informed the Thiruverkadu police who registered a case of suspicious death under CrPC section 176.

The body was sent for postmortem to Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital.

After finding that the two women were at home at the time of the death, police interrogated Sruthi for more than an hour but she continued to maintain that Rajyalakshmi had died of injuries sustained when she fell down in the bathroom.

"She confessed to the murder when we told her that her fingerprints had been lifted from the scene of crime," said an investigating officer . "She said she had smashed the woman's head against the wall and later strangled her with the 'thali'." Police altered the case to murder and arrested Sruthi.

Initial inquiries revealed that Rajalakshmi had been married to a man named Rajasekhar for a while and they had separated. She then got married to Suresh, a relative who worked in a private firm, a few years ago and the couple moved into a house in Mogappair.

They allegedly had frequent quarrels as he tortured her and she left him too, police found.

Rajalakshmi then got a job with Panimalar Engineering College where she met Sambasivam. The two became friends and began seeing each other. Rajalakshmi recently moved to the polytechnic in Choolaimedu, police said.

