Techie burned to death on b’day by MBA friend

CHENNAI: A techie was chained, slashed and burned alive on her 26th birthday on Saturday at Thalambur, on Chennai’s southern outskirts, by a schoolmate who had undergone sex change to marry her, police said.
Police have arrested Vetrimaran, an MBA graduate, who before sex change was Pandi Murugeshwari, for killing R Nandhini. The two had studied in the same girls school in Madurai and used to be close friends, police said.
They had fallen out after Nandhini refused to get into a relationship with Vetrimaran after his sex change despite his fervent appeals, but they stayed in touch, police said.After getting a BSc degree in information technology, Nandhini got a job in Chennai eight months ago. She was staying with her uncle. On Saturday, Vetrimaran called and asked Nandhini to spend a few hours with him. They met and he bought her new clothes and also took her to an orphanage near Tambaram and made a donation there.
Vetrimaran then offered to drop Nandhini home. On the way back, he stopped at a deserted spot at Ponmar.
At the deserted spot, Vetrimaran asked Nandhini to pose for photos. He then used chains, which he had carried in his bike, to bind her hands and feet telling her it was just for fun.

Police said Vetrimaran then refused to release Nandhini despite her pleas and instead slashed her neck and arms with a blade before emptying the contents of a bottle of petrol over her and setting her ablaze. He then fled.
After a while some people of the area discovered Nandhini struggling for her life and called police. She had given them a number to call before passing out which turned out to be Vetrimaran’s number. When police called he came to the scene and identified Nandhini as a friend and even accompanied police and residents of the area to take Nandhini to the government hospital at Chromepet. She died there late on Saturday, by which time Vetrimaran had gone missing.
On Sunday, investigators traced and nabbed him. An officer said Vetrimaran was calm and showed no remorse for his actions.
Police said Vetrimaran told them that he was upset that Nandhini had refused to have a relationship with him. He had undergone sex change at a private hospital a few years back, but Nandhini told him they had no future together. Recently she had become close to a colleague at work and that’s when he decided to kill her, police said, quoting Vetrimaran. He has been remanded in judicial custody. Further investigations are on.