'Cigarettes...iron burn marks': Maid dies after relentless torture by couple
A 15-year-old domestic help from Thanjavur was brutally murdered in Chennai on Diwali day. The accused Mohammad Nishad (35) and his wife Nasiya (32) were arrested after they confessed to repeatedly assaulting the girl and branding her with cigarette butts and an iron. After the assault, they locked her in a washroom where she died. The couple then fled their home to stay at Nishad's sister's house in the city.
Crime confession leads to couple's arrest
The crime came to light when Nishad confessed to his lawyer, who informed the police. Authorities recovered the girl's body from Nishad's residence at Eden Castle Apartment in Mehta Nagar. An investigating officer noted cigarette burns all over her body. The couple had been treating the girl harshly for over six months, assaulting her for perceived slacking at work, police said.
Additional suspects detained in ongoing investigation
They said that on Diwali, another couple visiting Nishad also assaulted the girl. Police have detained four additional suspects as investigations continue into this horrific crime. The victim's mother is a widow, and it was Nishad who had arranged for her employment through his sister. An autopsy was conducted at KMC Hospital on Saturday, with police now awaiting postmortem results to ascertain the full extent of the assault. After the autopsy, the body was handed to her family for cremation.
