'My father is a triple murderer': Teenager's startling admission during live chat show interview about eloping with her boyfriend



TV show host stunned as 16-year-old girl accuses her father of poisoning three people in jewellery dispute

Police find three bodies in backyard of her father's home after claims on Indian reality programme

Manhunt launched for father after he disappeared, telling his wife she would never see him alive again





A teenage girl invited on to a live TV show to talk about eloping with her boyfriend shocked the host and viewers with the astonishing claim that her father was a triple murderer.

The 16-year-old Indian girl - whose father was in the studio at the time - told how he had allegedly poisoned three people in a dispute over jewellery.

Her admission came as she told how she was scared of returning home to her family after she eloped and married.



The claims on the show in Chennai, India, resulted in police going to her father's village home - and finding three bodies buried in the backyard.

Shocking: The teenage girl (pictured right) claimed on live TV in India that her father was a triple murderer

Accused: The host of the live programme was left stunned as the 16-year-old girl told how her father (pictured left during the show) allegedly poisoned three people in a dispute over jewellery

But the father was not detained when the accusation was made, and has now gone on the run after telling his wife she would never see him alive again.



Now the hunt is on for the father, identified only as A. Murugan, who is wanted for questioning over the murder of a neighbour, his young daughter and son-in-law.

The teenage girl has not been identified after she broke down in tears on the TV show, but police have praised her for her courage in naming her father as a murderer.



She had been asked to appear on the show to talk about how she had eloped with her 21-year-old boyfriend a month ago.



Her parents, father Murugan and mother Rajeswari, who live in Nallanpillal Petral village, in southern India, were also invited to be on the show.



As the girl and her parents constantly argued with the TV cameras focused on them, the show's host tried to quieten everyone down.

He suggested they should all make amends and go home together.



But it was then that the girl, who had secretly married her boyfriend after eloping, told host Nirmala Periyasamy that she would not go home with her father because she was terrified that he would murder her and her new husband - just as he had allegedly slain three others.

Startling: A teenage Indian girl invited on to the Solvathellam Unmai TV chat show made the claim that her father was a triple murderer

'The girl was constantly telling us that she was afraid of her father, as he may murder her and her husband' said the host.



'When I repeatedly questioned her, the girl broke down and told us that her father had murdered three persons in their house in 2008.'



The reality show Solvathellam Unmai on the Zee Tamil channel ended with the parents and girl still arguing before Murugan and his wife left to return to their village on their own.



But police said that the father was furious with his wife for backing up their daughter's claims on TV.



'He abused his wife on the bus going back to their village,' said an officer.



The husband got off the bus before it reached the village, telling his wife she would never see him alive again.



When police went to the village and started digging up the backyard they found the remains of a man, his 20-year-old daughter and her 22-year-old husband.



Police said the three had left gold jewellery with Murugan for safekeeping but when they asked for it to be returned, he refused.



'He decided to eliminate them and keep the gold,' said Deputy Police Superintendent Gopal Sekar.



'So he gave them food laced with poison and then buried them in his backyard.'



A manhunt is continuing for Murugan.

