A 24-year-old woman allegedly ended her life after her married boyfriend asked her to hang herself. The accused, who works in the Indian Army allegedly hid his marriage from the deceased and lost his temper at her when she found out about the same.

The woman was identified as K Bharathi. A resident of Perumbakkam, Bharathi worked with a private firm. The accused was identified as Muthu Kumaresan.

Kumaresan and Bharathi became friends on a video chat app. On November 18, Kumaresan came to Chennai from Nagpur to meet Bharathi. When Bharathi learned that Kumaresan was married and had two children, she decided to end her relationship with him.

Kumaresan, however, refused to listen to Bharathi and threatened to commit suicide if she did not marry him. On December 2, Bharathi and Kumaresan spoke to each other on a video call and the former gave him a warning, The Times of India reported.

When Kumaresan refused to end the relationship, Bharathi threatened to commit suicide. When the 24-year-old woman made an attempt to cut her veins, Kumaresan allegedly goaded her to hang herself to death so that she could die sooner.

The police launched a probe into the case after Bharathi’s death and recovered the conversation that had been recorded on her phone. The police arrested the accused using the call recording. A senior official said that instead of dissuading Bharathi from ending her life, Kumaresan watched her take the drastic step in silence. He was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).