Friend arrested in connection with the dentist's murder

Thrissur: Police arrested a man who had allegedly stabbed a dentist to death here.

Doctor Sona ran a clinic here. Her friend Mahesh was arrested from Punkunnath here on Tuesday, in connection with her murder.

Sona was stabbed in the stomach and thigh at her clinic in Kuttanellur.  Following the incident, the man went into hiding—however police later found his car from elsewhere.

Sona had complained to her family of Mahesh's torture and financial exploitation, leading to the murder.

Mahesh extorted more than Rs 35 lakhs from Sona, media reports say.   Sona reportedly lodged a complaint with the police regarding this, following which she was attacked.

Pavaraty native Mahesh and Sona had been friends from college. Sona married and later got divorced from an Angamali native.

She had been in the Gulf and Mahesh lured her back to Kerala, ending up her setting up a clinic.

Acting on her family's complaint filed on September 25, Ollur CI summoned Sona and her father on September 29;  however Mahesh failed to turn up, even after he was expected for hours.

Later, Mahesh informed Sonia and her father, through a friend of his, that he was ready for settling issues.

However, he demanded Rs 20 lakh against the cost of interior works for the clinic.

Her family demanded him to return all the money he had extorted up until then.

When he learnt the family was to go ahead with the police complaint, he allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed her twice before fleeing the scene.

Sona succumbed to her injuries on October 3.

With inputs from IANS