A situation of unrest prevailed for around an hour in front of the Coimbatore Government Hospital on Trichy road as the relatives of a 25-year-old woman engaged in a road roko on Wednesday evening. They demanded justice for Shobana who was found dead in a beauty parlour near Sulur on Tuesday.

According to police, Shobana, a resident of Edayarpalayam and a BCA graduate, was working in Lalitha beauty parlour in Pappampatti pirivu, 20 kilometres away, for the last two months. On Tuesday, she had gone for work in the parlour and was reportedly not feeling well. In the evening, a neighbor informed Shobana’s parents that their daughter’s employer had asked them to come to the parlour since Shobana has locked herself inside a room.

As the parents reached the parlour, they realized that the police had recovered her body and sent it to the Coimbatore Government Hospital for autopsy. They also registered an FIR under section 174 (Suspicious death) of CrPC.

As the autopsy was completed on Wednesday, Shobana’s relatives alleged that Shobana had not killed herself and that she was murdered and demanded that the police alter the FIR to accommodate murder charges.

Bhavani, Shobana’s relative told the media that a lot of complaints were being said about the parlour by the tenants who lived downstairs. “Shobana and her boss in the parlour had an argument two days ago. The people who live downstairs also had said that there were many men who frequently visited the parlour,” she said. Bhavani also made it clear that the relatives have doubts on the lady under whom Shobana worked and also on the owner of the property.   

However, since the police refused to alter the FIR before getting the autopsy report, the infuriated relatives sat on a dharna outside the hospital. An atmosphere of unrest prevailed in the area since there were minor altercations between the relatives and the police personnel posted there.