KARUR: A 15-year-old boy from a village in
Karur district was beaten to death by a five-member gang on Saturday night, on suspicion that he had stolen a cell phone and Rs 3,000.
The gang members, Muniappan, Selvakumar, Palanisamy, Manivel and Muniappan, alias Muniandi, have been arrested and remanded in judicial custody.
The boy, who was identified as P Balasubramani from Allali Goundanur village, had dropped out of school after Class VIII a year ago and had been allegedly involved in petty thefts and had created trouble in the village. His father died a year ago and he was staying with his mother Ilanjiyam and sister Nandhini.
A few days ago, Muniandi lost his cellphone, and Palanisamy, also from Allali Goundanur village, allegedly lost Rs 3,000. Police said a few people from the village claimed to have seen Balasubramani using Muniandi’s cellphone and told him so. Following this, Muniandi, Palanisamy, Muniappan, Selvakumar and Muniappan went to Balasubramani’s house on Saturday evening, tied him up to a pillar and asked him about the cellphone. As they did not find his answers convincing, they thrashed him with a log.
Ilanjiam and Nandhini were not at the house when this happened. Early on Sunday, when Ilanjiam tried to wake Balasubramani up, she found him dead. The Velliyanai police reached the spot and conducted an investigation. Balasubramani’s body was sent to the Karur government hospital for post mortem.
Karur deputy superintendent of police M Kummaraja, who had also visited the spot, told TOI: “When the gang beat Balasubramani up, he had suffered internal injuries. They thought the injuries were not serious and left the place after untying him. He swooned and died later.”
Police formed a separate team and nabbed the five accused.
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