Chennai: Killer lover hangs himself in jail

Chennai: There was another macabre twist to the love triangle of the fireman, an English schoolteacher and her Facebook friend. If driving her own car over her to kill her on the spot in Chennai was not bad enough, the vengeful fireman was said to have hanged himself in his jail cell with his ‘veshti’ on Wednesday.  

S.Ilayaraja, (30), the fireman arrested for killing his 47-year-old government school teacher lover in Anna Nagar on Monday evening by running her car over her, committed suicide at Puzhal jail.

According to the police, Ilayaraja, lodged in Puzhal prison on Tuesday after he had knocked down R Nivedha, was visibly depressed since reaching the jail. A native of Theni, he was working as a fireman in Coimbatore, where Nivedha worked as an English teacher.

Ilayaraja, a married man, was reportedly having an affair with the school teacher, a divorcee, and ran her car over her in rage when she refused to come with him and preferred to ride pillion on the motorbike of another male friend on Monday. He rammed the car on the bike at Anna Nagar. Ilayaraja and Nivedha had come to meet Ganapathi, a Facebook friend of the teacher, when the incident took place in Chennai.

“On Wednesday another jail inmate spotted Ilayaraja hanging from his ‘veshti’ which was tied to the ceiling of the bathroom,” said a police source. Immediately the jail warden was alerted and the doctors in the prison confirmed he was dead and the body was sent to Stanley GH for autopsy.