TRICHY: A 34-year-old man at Thiruverumbur in

district of

allegedly murdered his

wife

and severed her head in the early hours of Sunday after she “refused to have sex with him,” police said.

The murdered woman has been identified as Jesintha Josbin, 26, wife of D Sankar Sagayaraj of Kattur.

Sagayaraj and Jesintha got married in January this year. A few weeks after their marriage, the couple started fighting with each other. Sagayaraj, who was an agent with an insurance company, was not regular to work. This led to frequent quarrels between them as she told him that he was irresponsible.

A few months ago, Sagayaraj mortgaged Jesintha’s 2.5 sovereigns of gold without her knowledge. The couple had a fight over this issue.

Frustrated with Sagayaraj, Jesintha went back to her parents’ home at Thirukattupalli of Thanjavur district around two months ago.

On September 30, Sagayaraj and his parents went to her parents’ home, consoled her and made her come back to his home.

On Saturday night, Sagayaraj and Jesintha had a fight. “After that, she refused to have sex with him,” said Thiruverumbur police inspector Gnanavelan. “It enraged Sagayaraj, and he decided to

her,” Gnanavelan said.

Around 2am, after Jesintha slept, Sagayaraj tried to strangle her. She woke up and started to shout. But he slit her neck with a kitchen knife. Later, he severed her head with a machete. After committing the murder, Sagayaraj sat in the living room of the house.

In the morning, Sagayaraj’s parents and sister, who were residing on the first floor of the building, knocked on Sagayaraj’s house. He opened the door. They were shocked to see blood stains on him.

Sagayaraj ran from home and surrendered before Papakurichi village administrative officer Sivalingam. The VAO filed a complaint with the Thiruverumbur police and produced Sagayaraj in the station.