The police the arrested man who wanted to marry the girl but her parents turned down the proposal.
The Tamil Nadu Police on Sunday arrested one person from Dindugul district in connection with the murder of a female college student.
According to the police, Pragathi, who studied at a college in Coimbatore, was found murdered with her throat slit near Pollachi on Friday.
The police said Satishkumar, the arrested person, wanted to marry Pragathi but her parents turned down the proposal. Later he got married to someone else. Pragathi's parents had also finalised a boy for her and the wedding was fixed for this June.
On Friday, Satishkumar took Pragathi in his car and enroute her native village, he allegedly killed her as he was not able to digest the fact that she was getting married to someone else.
In recent times, there has been a spurt in the number of cases of girls getting killed by their spurned lovers.
"Gone are the days of Devdas, when the boy failed by love wished his love well and moved on," Chitra Aravind, a city-based consultant psychologist, told IANS.
"The way boys are brought up has changed. They are not given much love and affection at home. They have low self-esteem. So when a girl rejects him, his ego gets hurt. Such people will suffer from unhealthy mind and would resort to violent acts," Ms Aravind said.
"They think of love as a major factor. To them, the girl is a part which will make him a complete person. Such people want to harm the person who rejects them," Ms Aravind added.
According to her, such boys normally have a history of violent behaviour and committing a murder is the climax to that.
"There are girls who would fall for such characters with an idealistic notion of reforming them. Such girls are usually victims of childhood abuse," Ms Aravind said.
It all boils down to the values that the parents follow and inculcate in their wards. she said.
"Those born in the '70s were clear. If it was no, then it was no. They were able to take it. But those born in the '90s are a confused lot. The television serials showing extra marital affairs in our drawing rooms condition their minds that nothing is wrong," Ms Aravind added.