A 32-year-old man brutally hacked his estranged wife to death inside a working women's hostel on Raja Naidu Street near Gandhipuram on Sunday morning. The attack, triggered by her alleged extramarital affair, took a chilling turn when the accused clicked a selfie with her body and posted it on WhatsApp with the message:“Payment for betrayal is death.”

The Rathinapuri police arrested the accused, identified as S Balamurugan of Tirunelveli. Police revealed that his wife, Sri Priya, 30, also hailing from Tirunelveli, had separated from him four months earlier following marital conflicts. She had moved to Coimbatore, taken up work at a bag retail shop on Cross Cut Road, and was living in a women's hostel. Their 10-year-old son and three-year-old daughter had remained with Balamurugan, who had been caring for them.

"Priya, who was staying in a working women's hostel on Raja Naidu Street, developed an extramarital relationship with Balamurugan's distant relative Isakki Raja, who was married with three children. On Saturday, Balamurugan met Priya in Coimbatore, asking her to end the relationship with Raja and reunite with him to lead a happy life. Priya refused to return to their native place," an officer said.

Matters escalated when Isakki Raja, upon learning about Balamurugan's visit, sent him an intimate photograph of himself with Priya. "Enraged, Balamurugan visited Priya at her hostel in an inebriated state and confronted her about the photo. They entered into a heated argument. Suddenly, Balamurugan took out a sickle from his bag and stabbed her, killing her on the spot. As she lay in a pool of blood, Balamurugan clicked a selfie with the body and posted it as his WhatsApp status," the officer added.

Upon receiving information, the Rathinapuri police rushed to the scene, recovered Priya's body, and transported it to the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital for postmortem. Balamurugan, who remained seated beside his wife's body after the murder, was arrested, produced before a judicial magistrate, and remanded to judicial custody.

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