On Friday, December 1, a 20-year-old nursing student named Fousiya was found dead in a hotel room on CLC Works Road in Chennai’s Chromepet. The girl was strangled to death by her boyfriend identified as Ashiq who uploaded the picture of the girl’s lifeless body on his Whatsapp status. The victim and her 20-year-old boyfriend checked in at the hotel at around 10: 30 am.
Fousiya was a second-year nursing student at Balaji Medical College in Chennai’s Chrompet area. Originally from Kerala’s Kollam district, Fousiya stayed at a girls’ hostel in New Colony. The victim had not attended classes at her college for the last three days. Fousiya was in a relationship with the accused, Aashiq, for about the last five years, according to police.
“On Friday morning, the couple had taken a room in a Chromepet hotel. That evening, Aashiq uploaded a picture of Fousiya’s dead body as his WhatsApp status,” the police said. The police added that Fousiya and Ashiq’s mutual friends saw the WhatsApp status and immediately informed the police. The police then arrived at the spot and initiated efforts to nab the accused. Upon checking the CCTV footage, the police located the accused Ashiq near an eatery and arrested him.
According to the police, the couple had an argument over accused Ashiq cheating on Fousiya as she saw some pictures of Ashiq with another woman on his phone. Their argument escalated to a point where the accused Ashiq first assaulted and then strangled the girl with a T-shirt. It has been reported that the duo were secretly married when they were minors and even had a baby. However, they had given up their baby for adoption in Chikmagalur.
Reportedly, the couple split up two years ago after Fousia uncovered his relationships with a few other women. She also filed a complaint with Kerala police, who booked him under the provisions of the Pocso Act and imprisoned him. He apologised and reconciled with her soon after he was released from jail. Accused Ashiq continued to pay her visits since then.
Meanwhile, Fousiya’s body was taken to Chromepet government hospital for a postmortem. Police are investigating whether the accused had any other motive for his crime.