Man murders three daughters, kills self in Namakkal

A 36-year-old farmer murdered his three daughters, aged between five and eight, and ended his life in Namakkal district on Tuesday (August 5, 2025).

P. Govindaraj (36), a farmer who was residing at Mangalapuram near Rasipuram in Namakkal district, and his wife Bharathi (26) had three daughters — Prathiksha Sri (8), Rithika Sri (6), Deva Sri (5), and a one-year-old son Aneeswaran.

Early on Tuesday, Govindaraj locked his wife, Bharathi, and son in the bedroom and killed his three daughters, severing their heads with a sickle. When the girls screamed, Bharathi tried to open the bedroom door, but she was unable to. She later broke the door and came out of the room and found her three daughters murdered and Govindaraj also lay dead.

She alerted the neighbours who, in turn, alerted the police. The police arrived at the spot and sent the four bodies to Namakkal Government Hospital for post-mortem. The police registered a case and are investigating.

The police said that the deceased, Govindaraj, earlier worked in a borewell company as a manager. For the past one year, he was engaged in farming on his 2.5 acre agricultural land.

He, along with his friends, planned to buy a borewell lorry and got ₹13.5 lakh loan from a private finance company at Attur in Salem district eight months ago. His wife also received ₹2.5 lakh in loan through five women self-help groups. But, after obtaining the loan, instead of buying a lorry, he renovated his house using that loan. He struggled to pay the monthly instalment of ₹27,000 for the loan and to repay the loan borrowed through his wife. “We suspect that, unable to repay the debts, he might have taken this extreme step after murdering his daughters,” a police source said.

(Assistance for overcoming suicidal thoughts is available on the State’s health helpline 104, Tele-MANAS 14416, and Sneha’s suicide prevention helpline 044-24640050)