A 35-year-old beautician from Appakudal town in Tamil Nadu's Erode district was found murdered and buried in a shallow pit on a private banana plantation on November 3, 2025, after going missing the previous day, police confirmed. The victim, identified as Sonia—a widow raising her school-going son, daughter, and mother—was discovered by locals foraging for mushrooms in the rain-soaked field near Gobichettipalayam town. Spotting a bloodstained knife and strands of hair emerging from the soil, they alerted authorities, leading to the exhumation of her body from a three-foot-deep grave. Sonia's family had filed a missing person report at Siruvalur Police Station when she failed to return from work, prompting a swift investigation that uncovered her ties to the plantation's owner.
Authorities arrested 27-year-old Mohan Kumar, a B.Com graduate and the suspect's alleged romantic partner, who owned the farmland where the crime occurred. Call records traced frequent communication between the two, revealing they had met two years earlier at a nearby garment factory and gradually developed a relationship, often meeting at his plantation.
According to police, Sonia's persistent requests for marriage became a flashpoint, "The lady kept asking him to marry her, and this triggered the murder." Such relational pressures, while not uncommon in interpersonal violence cases across India, highlight the vulnerabilities faced by women in informal partnerships, particularly widows navigating societal expectations and economic independence.
On the evening of November 2, around 8:00 pm, Mohan Kumar reportedly lured Sonia to the isolated farm under the pretence of meeting, where he had already dug the pit. After an altercation, he allegedly bludgeoned her with a stone and slit her throat with a small knife, sources said. He then hastily buried the body, discarding her phone and clothes into the nearby Bhavani canal to cover his tracks. The next morning, as police enquiries intensified, Kumar returned to the scene feigning ignorance, but inconsistencies in his account led to his detention and subsequent confession under interrogation. This calculated attempt at concealment echoes patterns in rural crime scenes, where agricultural lands often serve as impromptu disposal sites due to their seclusion.
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A team from Siruvalur Police Station, accompanied by revenue officials and medical experts from Perundurai Government Medical College, conducted an on-site examination and post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death and collect forensic evidence. Mohan Kumar has been remanded in custody on murder charges under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, with investigations ongoing into potential accomplices or prior threats.
The case has stirred local outrage, prompting calls for enhanced vigilance in Erode's agrarian communities, where domestic disputes sometimes escalate amid limited access to counselling or legal aid. As Sonia's family grapples with profound loss, the incident serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need for support systems to prevent such tragedies rooted in unaddressed relational conflicts.
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