Man held for death of couple in Tiruvannamalai

A 45-year-old man was arrested for the death of a couple whose charred bodies were found in their hut in Pakkiripalayam village near Chengam town in Tiruvannamalai a few days ago.

Police said the arrested person was identified as V. Sivakumar, a mason. The deceased couple are T. Sakthivel, 55, a farmer, and his wife S. Amirtham, 40. All of them belong to Pakkiripalayam village.

Initial inquiry revealed that the deceased Amirtham was earlier married to the suspect Sivakumar. They had three children before they developed differences and separated a few years ago.

Police said Sakthivel was former ward councilor of Pakkiripalayam village panchayat and also part of the DMK cadre. He married Tamilisai, 50, and had three sons. After a misunderstanding, the couple was living separately, with Tamilisai living with her children in Bengaluru for the past five years.

Subsequently, Sakthivel and the Amirtham befriended each other and after her separation from Sivakumar, Amirtham married Sakthivel. The couple was living together in the hut.

Police said the investigation found that Sivakumar was upset over his wife marrying another person in the same village. Sivakumar set the hut on fire after locking its door from outside with the couple sleeping inside. The incident occurred past midnight on January 3.

Based on an alert from residents, Chengam police inspected the spot and sent the bodies to Government Medical College Hospital in Tiruvannamalai town for postmortem. A case was registered. The arrested person was lodged at Central Prison in Vellore. A probe is under way.