When Vijay, a bank loan mediator, and Abirami got married in September 2011 and moved into their modest home near Kundrathur, everything seemed calm, with no hint of the storm that would one day tear their lives apart.In the years that followed, the couple had two children and settled into what appeared to be an ordinary family life. Meanwhile, Abirami began gaining popularity online as a local social media ‘reels star’, nicknamed ‘Biryani Abirami’ for her food-related content. But things began to change when she met Meenakshi Sundaram, a biryani delivery agent at a shop frequently visited by her and her family.On August 30, 2018, Abirami’s neighbour saw her leave home on her two-wheeler, with Meenakshi Sundaram on the pillion. The neighbour recalled overhearing him tell Abirami: “Give them the tablets and inform me when it is done.”When questioned later, Abirami, then 25, told the neighbour that her children were unwell and that Meenakshi Sundaram had been referring to their medicine. However, the neighbour remembered seeing him at Abirami’s house on at least two occasions previously. At the time, Abirami had introduced him as a family friend. Still, something about the exchange that day did not sit right, the neighbour later recalled.What no one around them yet knew was that Abirami and Meenakshi Sundaram were entangled in a relationship, one that would soon culminate in the tragic deaths of her two children, at the hands of their own mother.A premeditated crimeThat same night, after Vijay, then 30, returned home from work, Abirami brought him a glass of milk, the same milk she had already given to their two children, Ajay, 6, and Karnika, 3. When Vijay took a sip, he found it bitter. Abirami said it was because she had forgotten to add sugar, but Vijay, already tired, said he did not want it anymore and went to bed.He woke up later than usual the next day. As he hurried to get ready for work, he asked why Abirami had not cooked anything yet. She told him that she and the children were going to her mother’s house in Periyapanicheri, and they would eat there.Before leaving, Vijay asked what their youngest was doing; Abirami said she was asleep. Normally, Vijay would kiss his daughter goodbye before heading to work, but that morning, when he approached her, Abirami pulled him back, saying the child had been coughing all night and had not slept well, and that he should not disturb her. At that moment, their son was sitting in front of the television. Vijay looked at him and said, “I will go and come back, son,” before heading out for the day.Around 3.30 p.m., Abirami called Vijay and told him they were heading to her mother’s house. She also reminded him that it was his birthday, and asked him to come over.In the meantime, according to police records, Abirami went to a pawn broker’s shop, hoping to pledge a gold chain. The broker told her he could offer only ₹12,000, but she insisted she was unwell and urgently needed money. She then asked him to buy the chain outright, and he paid her ₹17,000 in cash.Vijay, meanwhile, had to work through the day and night. On the morning of September 1, 2018, he tried calling Abirami several times, but there was no response. Concerned, he contacted her younger brother, who told him that neither Abirami nor the children were at their mother’s house. Worried, Vijay left for Periyapanicheri.About 20 days earlier too, Abirami had gone missing from home. At the time, Vijay had no idea where she was, but their son Ajay had told him that she often visited a house nearby, belonging to “an uncle” named Meenakshi Sundaram. Ajay also said he could identify the house. With the boy’s help, Vijay had tracked Abirami down and brought her back home.This time, suspecting a similar situation, Vijay went to Meenakshi Sundaram’s house in Kundrathur, accompanied by his brother-in-law. However, Abirami was not there.When they returned to Vijay and Abirami’s house near Kundrathur, they found the door merely latched, not locked. Inside, both children were lying on the bed, tucked under the bedsheets up to their necks. At first, they appeared to be asleep. But when Vijay tried to wake them, it slowly dawned on him that they were no longer alive.How the case unfoldedVijay rushed to Kundrathur police station and lodged a complaint that his children were dead and their mother was missing. Then Inspector of Police, Kundrathur, Charles, began the investigation after sending the bodies of children for post-mortem. The police noted that Abirami’s two-wheeler was missing from the house.On the same day, the police scrutinised call records and went to the two-wheeler parking lot located behind the Koyambedu bus stand. They checked the CCTV footage recorded between 4.42 p.m. and 5 p.m. on August 31, 2018, the previous day. The footage showed Abirami bringing the vehicle inside, and later boarding a bus.The police investigation revealed that Abirami had travelled to Nagercoil and attempted to take a room in a hostel there.Based on information of her return, on the morning of September 2, as a police team lay in wait at the parking lot — her scooter in view — Abirami and Meenakshi Sundaram turned up, and she tried to ride away with him on the pillion. When the police chased them, they fell off th vehicle and were caught.According to the police, Abirami confessed to murdering her children. Her mobile phone and two-wheeler were seized as part of the investigation. During interrogation, Abirami told officers that she had met Meenakshi Sundaram, who worked at a biryani shop, about two months earlier. Wanting to live with him, she said she decided to kill her husband and children.Both Abirami and Meenakshi Sundaram were arrested.The police charged the two accused with premeditated criminal conspiracy, alleging that the plan was carried out under the instigation of the second accused, Meenakshi Sundaram. According to the charges, the first accused, Abirami, mixed sedatives into the milk given to her children. Both were later remanded to judicial custody.The post-mortem report said the children appeared to have died of systemic absorption of the drugs consumed. Charges under Sections 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were filed against the first accused Abirami, and under Sections 302, read with 109 (abetment), against the second accused Meenakshi Sundaram.The case was taken up by the District Mahila Court, Chengalpattu, on November 29, 2018, and during the trial, 25 witnesses were examined and 23 exhibits were marked. The case was later transferred to the Principal District Sessions Court, Kancheepuram. At the conclusion of trial, Principal District Sessions Judge P.U. Chemmal pronounced the judgment in July this year.The court ordered that the duo serve life sentences for the remainder of their natural lives in prison and also imposed a total fine of ₹30,000 on them.