Teacher hacked inside church

A day after a Karur college girl was murdered inside her classroom by her senior whom she had spurned, the murder of a school teacher and violent attacks on two college girls by men who were pursuing them rocked Tamil Nadu and the neighbouring Puducherry.

While 24-year-old schoolteacher N. Francina, who was due to get married in a few days, was brutally murdered inside a church in Thoothukudi on Wednesday morning, a college girl in Tiruchi was hacked in public by a youth with whom she ended a relationship. In Puducherry, a jilted lover slashed a college girl’s wrist on the road.

According to police, Francina, a resident of Indira Nagar on George Road, was indiscriminately attacked with an aruval by J. Keegan (27), a crane operating assistant, around 8.30 a.m. when she had gone to offer prayers at a church near the school where she was working. Leaving the victim in a pool of blood, he fled the scene and moments later entered a house that was under renovation on Manal Street and allegedly hanged himself to death. Incidentally, Francina was to be relieved from duty at the school on Wednesday as she had resigned her five-year-old job following her betrothal.

Based on preliminary inquiries, police said the accused was pursuing Francina but she had spurned him. “Two years ago, he used to follow her but she had ignored him. Some time ago, some neighbours of the victim had warned him to stop chasing her. A week ago, upon learning that she was engaged, he managed to get her phone number and contacted her. But Francina’s mother had reprimanded him,” a police officer said.

While a parishioner told The Hindu that he had seen the assailant wearing a red T-Shirt run away from the church, police are poring through visuals recorded in CCTV cameras installed at two locations inside the church to conclusively establish that it was Keegan who had killed her.

“Francina was a calm person. She usually avoids going alone but today she wanted to go to the church,” said her aunt Fathima, who was yet to recover from the shock.