THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 36-year-old man was brutally murdered allegedly by sand mafia in the wee hours of Friday with the arm of an earthmover for resisting illegal mining from his compound at Ambalathinkala near Kattakada here.
Sangeeth Balan, father of two, was bludgeoned to death around 1am in front of his residence. Though he was taken to hospital by neighbours, he was declared brought dead. The Kattakada police have registered a case against six persons, all belonging to the area. One of them, Vijin, a native of Charupara, surrendered before the police while the other five are absconding. Sangeeth’s wife has identified two persons --- Uthaman and Saju --- from the gang.
According to the police, the gang came to Sangeeth’s compound around 12.30 am with earthmovers and trucks. Sangeetha, who was present at the house along with their two children, alerted Sangeeth, who was at his hatchery unit 30km away.
Sangeeth had earlier given permission to the Forest Department and panchayat to build a bridge for taking sand from their compound. But when Sangeeth, who rushed to the spot, realised the six men were part of sand mafia in the locality, he opposed their move. As he persisted and stood in front of the earthmover, the gang knocked him down with its arm.
“We’re on the lookout for the accused. We’ve seized the vehicle used for the crime,” said Kattakada CI D Bijukumar. Sangeeth’s body, which has been shifted to the Medical College Hospital for postmortem examination, will be handed over to relatives on Saturday. He is survived son Sreehari, 6, and daughter Sangeerthana, 4, besides wife Sangeetha.