CHENNAI: A 21-year-old youth was allegedly hacked to death by his ‘friends’ following a quarrel while drinking liquor near Puzhal lake on Monday night. The youth then attempted to burn the body before dumping it in the lake. The police arrested four persons, including two juveniles, on Wednesday.
The deceased has been identified as R Mukundhan of Pasumpon Nagar in Kallikuppam. The arrested are N Sanjay (19) of Annai Indira Nagar in Shanmugapuram near Ambattur, the prime accused, Hari (20) and two juveniles.
Mukundhan and Sanjay went to the banks of the lake near Annai Sathya Nagar on Monday night to drink liquor after Sanjay allegedly sold his mobile phone. While they were drinking and consuming tablets, Sanjay called his friends to join them, the police said. This reportedly angered Mukundhan, who picked up a fight with Sanjay over inviting others.
The argument escalated and the group attacked Mukundhan. When he retaliated, Sanjay pulled out a knife and attacked him repeatedly, while the others assaulted him and pushed him to the ground. Mukundhan sustained severe cut injuries and died at the spot, the police said.
The suspects then placed a mattress over the body and tried to set it on fire. After the clothes and skin were partially charred, they panicked and dumped the body in the lake.
On Tuesday morning, the public spotted a body floating near the shore and alerted the police. A police team recovered the body, and found that it had cut injuries and burn marks. They sent it to Kilpauk Government Medical College Hospital for postmortem.
Suspecting murder, the police launched a probe and found that Sanjay and Hari had a previous dispute with Mukundhan over money. The police said Sanjay already faces complaints of assault and the alleged sale of psychotropic painkiller tablets.