In the 1939 Narasamma murder case, a wealthy and sadistic businessman named Shanmugha Sundara Gramani in Madras was convicted for the brutal killing of his domestic worker, Narasamma. Gramani, known for his political influence and cruelty, beat Narasamma to death after she was late in bringing him hot water for his bath, subsequently attempting to hide her body by claiming she was a beggar who died of leprosy and having her buried in a gunny bag at a cemetery. The case became a legal landmark due to the sophisticated defense by British barrister Nugent Grant, who argued that Narasamma was a fictitious character and the body was a plant; however, the prosecution secured a conviction using physical evidence such as Gramani’s meticulous account books showing an advance payment to her, a specific “tattoo mark” he forced all his servants to wear, and a torn sari that matched another piece held by a fellow servant. Ultimately, Gramani was sentenced to death and hanged in 1940, marking a rare instance during the British Raj where a wealthy employer was held fully accountable for the murder of a servant, highlighting the extreme class oppression and “slave-like” conditions of the era.
