Chennai, Nov 20 (IANS): In a shocking incident, a 26-year-old teacher was brutally stabbed to death in a classroom in the Mallipattinam Government School in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur district by a man whose marriage proposal she had rejected.

The teacher identified as Ramani had been teaching at the school for the past four months. She was attacked in her classroom by Madhankumar (30), a former lover.

According to police, Madhankumar entered the classroom while Ramani was teaching and stabbed her in the neck with a knife.

Despite immediate efforts by school staff and students to rush her to a nearby hospital, Ramani was declared dead on arrival.

Both Ramani and Madhankumar belonged to the same village and community, located near the school.

Investigations revealed that Madhankumar had proposed marriage to Ramani, but she had declined, a decision strongly supported by her parents.

A few days before the incident, village elders had warned Madhankumar to leave Ramani alone after she expressed her disinterest in the relationship.

Police believe this rejection drove Madhankumar to commit the crime.

The incident has sparked outrage, with Tamil Nadu’s School Education Minister, Anbil Mahesh, expressing shock and grief. In his condolence message to Ramani’s family, he pledged strict legal action against the perpetrator.

Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami expressed shock over the incident and said murders have become common under the “incompetent” DMK regime, which has failed to maintain law and order in the state.

He charged that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin focused on publicity stunts instead of attending to his primary responsibility of maintaining the state’s law and order. He urged the CM to ensure that no such incident happens in the future.

It may be noted that there have been several cases of murder in Tamil Nadu in the past few months and opposition has come out strongly against the DMK government and the failure of the police in preventing crimes.