THOOTHUKUDI: A 17-year-old boy succumbed to injuries in hospital after a group of school students attacked him with sharp weapons at Sankaralingapuram near Kovilpatti on Thursday night.
According to police, T Manoj Kumar (17) of Sankaralingapuram was talking with a friend on the street when a four-member gang, all students, riding bikes arrived there and started attacking the friend. Manoj Kumar tried to intervene in the fight and was hacked by the group. While his friend escaped, Manoj suffered grievous injuries. Locals took him to Kovilpatti government hospital and then to Tirunelveli government medical college hospital, where he died without responding to treatment in the wee hours on Friday.
Kovilpatti East police registered a case. Police said Manoj Kumar worked as a casual labourer and the assailants were students of class 11 and 12. "The youths were from the same locality. All of them belong to BC. They had a duel which resulted in the attack. We are trying to trace the attackers,"said a senior police officer.
Police privy to the investigation said the bike-borne youths had come to attack Manoj's friend over personal motives, however, the deceased had questioned them and prevented the attack. Hence, the assailants hacked Manoj brutally before leaving", he said.
On Friday, family members and relatives of Manoj Kumar staged a protest on the Kovilpatti - Sattur road, and later at Puthu road in Kovilpatti, demanding arrest of the accused. Apart from the arrest of the accused, the family demanded a government job for one in the victim's family and adequate compensation.
During the peace talks held by Kovilpatti tasildar Balasubramanian, the family members agreed to receive the body withdrew from agitation, following assurance to arrest the accused at the earliest.