Thoothukudi Class 12 girl murder: one person arrested

After a week, Thoothukudi police arrested a man in connection with the murder of a Class 12 girl student from a village under the Kulathur police jurisdiction on Thursday (March 19, 2026).

The suspect has been identified as Dharma Muneeswaran, 38.

The 17-year-old girl reportedly went missing on March 10 after she went to a nearby scrub jungle area around 6 p.m. When she did not return home after an hour, her parents, relatives, and villagers began searching for her.

She was found murdered in the same area, which is around 250 metres from her residence, at around 3 p.m. on March 11. Kulathur police visited the spot, recovered the body, and sent it for post-mortem examination to Thoothukudi Government Medical College and Hospital.

Protests in Thoothukudi

The victim’s parents and villagers staged protests at various places, including the Kurukkusalai junction and VVD signal in Thoothukudi, as well as in their village, demanding that the perpetrator be arrested and that action be initiated against the Kulathur and Vilathikulam police for failing to act promptly.

Although the post-mortem of the deceased was completed on March 12, her parents and villagers were firm that they would accept the body only after the arrest of the accused.

Sources said that during the investigation, it was found that an unidentified bike had been parked at the spot, a few metres away from where the body was found. Further analysis of CCTV footage from a windmill near the village helped trace the suspect.

Based on these leads, one of the special teams deployed for the investigation arrested Muneeswaran. Sources added that Muneeswaran had prior criminal records and had been using the bike, which was stolen from Parthibanur in Ramanathapuram district.

A kin of the victim told The Hindu that talks are under way and the body will most likely be received by Friday (March 20) morning.

Further investigations are under way to establish the sequence of events leading to the crime and determine if others were involved.