K. Balu
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A 30-year-old man was arrested by the Walajah police on charges of killing three people, including his mother-in-law, at Kodakkal village near Sholingur town in Ranipet on Thursday (May 15, 2025).

The police said the accused, K. Balu, a native of Pudukudoiyanur village near Sholinghur town, had been cultivating paddy on his three-acre farmland in the village for many years.

The initial inquiry revealed that Balu got married to B. Bhuvaneshwari, 26, a resident in Walajah town, in 2021, and the couple has a three-year-old son. Balu often came home drunk, and the couple would argue over domestic issues, said the police.

Unable to put up with his drunken behaviour, Bhuvaneshwari and her son left home to stay with her mother V. Bharathi, 56, near Walajah town, a year ago.

On Wednesday (May 14, 2025) night, Balu went to his mother in-law’s house and quarrelled with his wife. According to the police, in a fit of rage, Balu killed his mother in-law, who was trying to pacify the couple. Fearing for her life, Bhuvaneshwari fled the spot. The couple’s son was not home at the time.

Balu then went to the house of a relative whom he suspected his wife was in a relationship with, in Kodakkal village near Sholinghur town, and inquired about the man’s whereabouts. Only his parents, C. Annamalai, 52, and A. Rajeshwari, 45, were home. When they refused to provide the information he asked for, Balu attacked them with a steel rod, killing them, the police said.

Based on an alert from the couple’s neighbours, the Walajah police rushed to the spot and nabbed Balu from his hideout. A case was registered. The police said Balu sustained a fracture to his leg when he was being taken to the scene of the crime. He was admitted to Government Taluk Hospital in Walajah. A probe is under way.