CHENNAI: The police arrested eight people including a woman, her father and brother for hacking to death her lover and dumping the body in a canal. The dead is Sakthivel (23) of Thanjavoor Thirumalai Samudram. The arrested are Balaguru of Ayyasamipatti, daughter Devika, son Duraimurukan and five hired killers.

Police said Devika and Sakthivel were in a relationship. Though they are from the same community, Balaguru opposed the relationship and planned to kill Sakthivel. He hired some killers from Madurai with the help of his friend Sathya to kill Sakthivel. Police said Balaguru called Sakthivel to his farm on pretext of talking about some land dealings and then killed him. They dumped his body and vehicle in the nearby canal. Police said Devika and Duraimurukan knew about it.

Balaguru and children were arrested in an investigation conducted after the body was recovered from the canal. The hired killers were nabbed when they came to collect the money from Balaguru.