Her child is also found dead

A 22-year-old woman and her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter were found with their heads smashed in, at their house in Avadi, during the early hours of Wednesday. The woman was reportedly raped after being hit with a rock.

The victim, Rani (name changed), was the wife of Arul, 25. The police have arrested Veerakumar, 19, a local soothsayer, on charges of rape and murder.

According to the police, Arul had gone to Puducherry for business. Rani had gone to her father’s house in Tirutanni. “Arul ran out of stock in Puducherry. He asked Rani to return to Avadi, pack the remaining stock and bring it to Puducherry,” said Gopi, a neigbour and relative of the victim.

Rani and her daughter returned to Avadi on Tuesday. “After speaking to relatives who live on the same street, she went to bed. On Wednesday morning, when one of the baby girl’s friends went to call her out to play, she saw mother and daughter lying in a pool of blood and alerted her father,” added Mr. Gopi.

A police complaint was lodged and the bodies were sent for post-mortem to Kilpauk Medical College Hospital. “One of our relatives, who lives nearby, saw Veerakumar loitering around Rani’s house and had asked him to go home. Based on suspicion, the police detained him,” added another relative. Besides, a sniffer dog picked up a scent from the scene of crime and went straight to the police station where Veerakumar was being held.

Further investigations are on.

Meanwhile, residents of the locality asked the local administration to provide gates for the colony. “Drunkards loiter into our colony and this area has become a public toilet. It has become difficult to even have food,” said Mr. Gopi.