23-year-old nurse arrested for killing colleague and stealing her gold chain in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: A 23-year-old nurse has been arrested for allegedly murdering his female colleague and stealing her gold chain in Tamil Nadu. The victim, Uthira (26), a native of Ramanathapuram, was killed in Erode district. Police said the accused stole her thali chain weighing four sovereigns.

Uthira worked as a nurse at a private hospital in Pallagoundenpalayam in Tiruppur district. Her husband approached the police after she went missing on October 15. During the investigation, her body was found on October 17 near the Vijayamangalam toll gate in Perundurai.

Police subsequently registered a murder case and focused their investigation on Uthira's colleague, Saravanan. According to the police, he took her on his motorcycle to Erode and killed her to steal her gold jewellery. Saravanan was arrested on October 19. Police said the stolen jewellery had been recovered. He was later produced before a court and remanded.

The murder has also triggered a political row over law and order in Tamil Nadu. DMK president M.K. Stalin blamed the rise in crimes on what he described as failures in Chief Minister Joseph Vijay's handling of the Home Department.

Stalin questioned whether Vijay was actually exercising control over the police department or holding the portfolio only in name. He also sarcastically asked whether the Home Department, like other portfolios, had been handed over to another minister.