Traffic on the Tirukovilur-Cuddalore road was affected for about five hours when about 500 residents of Mettukuppam and Bavandur blocked the road angered by the alleged rape and murder of a 40-year-old woman at her house today.
The woman was working as a cook in a private matriculation school at Bavandur here, police said
People also blocked an ambulance when police tried to take the woman's body for postmortem. There was a heated exchange between police and the people.
Police lathicharged the crowd to disperse them and five persons, including a sub inspector, were injured in the lathi charge and the melee that followed.
Police said as the news about the woman strangulated to death with weal marks all over her body spread, people gathered on the road condemning the police for such recurring incidents in Thiruvannai Nallur Police Station limits and demanding arrest of the culprits.
They said this was the third incident within few days. Earlier one woman was found murdered in her house and another woman in a lake.
They charged that police had not acted in both the cases.
A special team had been formed to nab the culprits involved in the murder of the woman, who worked as a cook in the school, police said.
