A 20-year-old woman was stabbed to death by her boyfriend in Thiruvannamalai district on Tuesday, after she refused to marry him.

M Monika, the deceased, had been in a relationship with Gokulnath for the last six years, said the police. “Gokulnath had approached her parents about two years ago to get married to her but her parents had refused. But they still continued the relationship. Recently, he asked Monika if she would marry him and she refused. So, he murdered her using a small knife,” said a police official from Arani.

Monika was a third-year student in English Literature at Auxilium College in Katpadi and was living in the college hostel. She had come home to Arani for the weekend, and left for college on Monday morning. Trying to her on Tuesday, her father Mathiyazhan called the college hostel but was told that Monika never arrived at the hostel on Monday.

Following this, Mathiyazhan filed a complaint at the Arani Taluk police station on Tuesday. Monika’s body was found in Ariyapadi village in Thiruvannamalai district on Tuesday. Police sent the body to the government hospital for post-mortem.

According to the police, Gokulnath was working as a daily wage labourer, and would often drop Monika to college. “He used to often drop her to college and on Tuesday also he told her that he would drop her to college, but stabbed her,” said a police officer.

After the incident, Gokulnath surrendered at the Polur police station and was later taken to Arani Taluk police station. Some media reports had stated that Gokulnath had attempted to kill himself in the station. However the police denied this.

“He lied to us that he tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself. But it was actually a small wound that he got while stabbing the girl,” said the official.

A case of murder was filed at the Arani Taluk police station and Gokulnath was remanded to Vellore Central jail.