COIMBATORE: The sun will dawn upon the city tomorrow too, and life will continue as usual. However, in a tiny part of the city, there will be a small family trying to come to terms with the death of a 20-year-old, whose life was deemed worth less than a mobile handset. Tamil Selvam (20) was stabbed to death by a gang for resisting its attempt to snatch the device.
Tamil, a third-year engineering student, was returning home late on Saturday night after completing a college project. He was half a kilometre away from his house at Sadayan Thottam in Arasur when a gang waylaid him on Saravanampatti road around 11:30 PM. Three persons on two bikes attempted to snatch his handset to which Tamil resisted and raised an alarm. One of the men then stabbed him on his chest, leaving him bleeding profusely. An injured Selvan reached home, and was rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Within 30 minutes of the attack on Tamil, another youth was reportedly stabbed by a three-member gang about half a kilometre from the scene of the first crime. The reason was same -- the youth refused to let go off his mobile. The similarities in the modus operandi have led the police to suspect the involvement of the same gang. Six teams have been constituted to crack the case.
K Mahalingam (25), of Vasantha Nagar in Arasur, was riding a bike on Thennampalayam-Annur road when the assailants intercepted him on the pretext of asking an address. While he was helping them out, they attempted to snatch his handset. When he resisted, they stabbed him on the back and fled with his bike and mobile handset. A car driver gave a vain chase, only managing to scare the gang into abandoning the bike before making their escape. Mahalingam has been admitted to a private hospital in Sulur.
The special teams were sifting through CCTV camera footage and cell phone tower dump from the surrounding areas to zero in on the suspects.