SALEM: A 22-year-old man who killed his lover and threw her body into a 300ft-deep gorge in Yercaud was arrested on Monday. He was caught after he sent her mangalsutra to her husband through courier.The incident happened on Dec 23 in the Yercaud garden area where G Venkatesh was meeting 25-year-old Sumathi. They got into an argument there. “Sumathi got a call when they were together, and when Venkatesh asked her who it was, she did not give him a proper answer. This angered him,” said police. “He then strangled Sumathi to death with her dupatta.”Venkatesh put her body in a bag, carried it on his two wheeler to a gorge on the Yercaud-Kuppanur ghat road and threw it there.He then sent Sumathi’s thaali through courier to her husband, whom she had separated from two years ago. Police said the husband, Shanmugam, a truck driver, had been taking care of their two children. After he got the parcel from Venkatesh, he tried searching for Sumathi but it was in vain. So, on Dec 25, he filed a complaint with the Yercaud police, who questioned Venkatesh, arrested him and retrieved the body from gorge with the help of forest officials and firemen. The body was then sent to the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital for postmortem.
