CHENNAI: The death of a teenager, believed to have drowned in a lake near Mappedu in Tiruvallur, turned out to be a murder with the arrest of four of his friends, on Friday night.
Tiruvallur police said P Ramki (19), of Satharai village, went missing from his house, and did not pick up or return calls. Two days later, his body was found in Satharai lake and his belongings - cash, cellphone and watch - were recovered from the washing-stone on a well. Mappedu police initially registered a case of unnatural death and handed the body over to the family after a post-mortem. A preliminary post-mortem report indicated that the teen could have been killed and dumped in the lake, since there was no ingestion of water as in the case of drowning.
Subsequently, the case was altered to murder. Preliminary investigations revealed that Ramki returned to his place after a pilgrimage to Sabari Mala on Saturday.
“On Sunday, Ramki had gone out for a binge session with four of his friends - C Murugan, (19) of Perumbakkam, S Vijayakumar, (20), S Nambirajan (29), both from Satharai, and C Prakash (19) of Mappedu. During the party, Nambirajan and Prakash passed out while the rest became hyperactive. Murugan began boasting of his girlfriend and the places that he had gone out with her. Ramki reportedly ridiculed Murugan by stating that the girl was going out with a few other boys and he dropped a few names. An enraged Murugan picked up a quarrel in which Vijaykumar also joined. Ramki, who was singled out, was thrashed by the duo. Since Ramki collapsed after the beating, the duo thought that he had passed out. They dragged him to the lake and learnt that he was dead. They dumped the body and escaped. The other two, who had passed out, woke up late into the night and went home,” said a senior police official.
Nambirajan and Prakash inquired about Ramki with the other two, who claimed that Ramki had left early after the session. On interrogation, Murugan and Vijayakumar confessed to the crime while the rest were booked for being party to the it by suppressing the information.