Kochi: A 31 year old man hacked her teen ‘girlfriend’ to death while she was alone at her house in Udayamperoor, near here, on Thursday morning, suspecting she had started a new fling.

The police arrested neighbour Binuraj, a painter by profession, for the murder of Neethu Babu alias Chinnu, 18, daughter of Babu, Fishermen Colony, Udayamperoor.

The victim sustained a deep cut on her neck and the body was handed over to her family after autopsy. Binuraj would be produced before the magistrate on Friday.

According to the police, Binuraj came in and attacked her from behind with a chopper several times while she was brushing her teeth on the terrace around 7:45 am, when her father, an auto driver, and mother were away at work. She died on the spot.

As locals rushed to the spot hearing her cries, the killer brandished the chopper and fled. However, he ran into a police party headed for the scene of crime.

“Both were in love for years and the victim even tried to elope with him three months back. On her father’s complaint, I summoned both families to the police station and they agreed to give the girl in marriage in a few months when she turned 18”, said SI Bijoy Chandran.

However, in the last two weeks or so, the accused suspected that she had started calling someone else and that her family also backed the new relationship.

“I’m not sure whether she had turned 18. We’re told she is an adopted child. Babu has two sons, living on their own, elsewhere,” the officer said