Seven men were arrested from Meenakshipuram in Tamil Nadu’s Palakkad over beating up and killing an unidentified man with mental health issues.
Police sources confirmed to NDTV that the victim was a drifter known to wander the area. Later that night, when they gathered to drink, the men decided to approach him again. They caught up with him on the road near a local ward member’s house and assaulted him using dried coconut leaf stalks, resulting in severe injuries. When the man collapsed and begged for water, the accused allegedly offered him alcohol and then continued the assault. They chased him further, broke branches from a tree, and continued to brutally beat, kick and punch him until he was in a critical condition. The accused then abandoned the dying man at the spot and walked away. The seven arrested accused have now been identified as Karthik, Sanjay, Manikandan alias Gunal, Kathiresan, Naveen, Prasanth Kumar, and Suryaprakash.
The seven locals accused of killing him, between age 22 and 35, were under the influence of alcohol. On October 10, at around 10 pm, the group initially chased the man away from their colony. The victim’s body was found approximately 300 metres from where he was attacked. Police also verified and confirmed that no accused were named in the initial report, which was registered under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) for unnatural death following the discovery of the unidentified body near Moolathara Dam.
Locals said that while he would occasionally exhibit some disturbing behaviour, he was non-violent.
The case was registered initially under BNS section 194 and later updated to BNS 302. (With inputs from John Varghese)
