

COIMBATORE: A minor boy was arrested for allegedly murdering his friend's father at Neelikonampalayam near Singanallur on Thursday night.
The deceased was identified as S Manikandan (45) from Anna Nagar at Neelikonampalayam near Singanallur in the city.
He had been working as a wall painter and is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. Manikandan's younger son and the suspect were friends. The boy had dropped out after Class 10 and was doing odd jobs.
Manikandan was warning his son about hanging out with the suspect as the latter was allegedly a drunkard. Despite his warning, the two continued to be friends.
On Thursday, the suspect reportedly called Manikandan's son for their regular meeting. On knowing about this, Manikandan reprimanded his son. In the evening, Manikandan saw the suspect and warned him again to not be friends with his son, which led to an argument between them.
In a fit of rage, the boy pushed Manikandan down and then attacked him with a stone repeatedly. Manikandan sustained severe injuries and died.
On receiving information, Singanallur police recovered the body and sent it to ESI Hospital for postmortem. A murder case was registered against the minor who was then arrested by the police on Friday. He was produced before the court and remanded to a juvenile home.