KOCHI: It has come to light that a drunken brawl over half a litre of liquor took the life of a 44-year-old catering firm employee in Tripunithura a week ago.
Though the accused, Mahesh, 43, a Puthenkulam resident who runs the catering firm, attempted to turn the murder into a case of unnatural death, the intervention of the doctors of Tripunithura taluk hospital, helped unravel the mystery behind the death, the police said.
On Monday night, the victim, Santhosh, an assistant of Mahesh, was found lying in a pool of blood, the police said.
“Mahesh and his friends rushed him to the taluk hospital in a private vehicle but he was declared brought dead. The doctors, who attended on the victim, realised that death occurred a couple of hours earlier. Growing suspicious after finding injuries on the body during the postmortem, they alerted the police,” said an officer with the Hill Palace police station.
By Wednesday, the police tracked down the accused who allegedly confessed to the crime. He is currently in judicial custody.
According to the police, the two sat down for a drink on Monday afternoon at the catering firm’s office. Before going out, Mahesh kept away a 500ml bottle of liquor for consumption after the day’s work.
When he returned a few hours later, he found Santhosh sleeping after having emptied the bottle.
In a fit of rage, Mahesh allegedly assaulted Santhosh. He shoved down the latter from the first floor, inflicting serious injuries.
Even afterwards, he continued assaulting Santhosh and left the scene in an inebriated state unaware of the gravity of his employee’s condition, the police said.
A special squad under Thrikkakara ACP K B Jijimon conducted the probe. Mahesh is the lone accused in the case, the police said.