CHENNAI: Little did 18-year-old P Janakiraman alias John Peter know what awaited him when he went to celebrate the birthday of his friend in an open area near the Buckingham canal on Sunday night. Fast forward to Tuesday, his body was found in a canal at Semmanchery.

Janakiraman of Ezhil Nagar, an employee at a footwear unit at Parry’s Corner, went with his friends to celebrate a friend’s birthday on Sunday..“A few hours later, Janakiraman’s brother Sanjay received a call from one of the victim’s friend that they were attacked by four men and that they took to their heels. Since Janakiraman did not return home, Sanjay with his mother lodged a complaint with Kannagi Nagar police,” said police.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday evening the police received information that a body was seen floating next to a school. It was confirmed that the body was of Janakiraman and it was sent to the Government Royapettah Hospital for postmortem. Since the body was found within Semmanchery police station limits, a fresh complaint was lodged. Preliminary investigations revealed that when Janakiraman and his friends were celebrating, they were attacked by the gang, who also vandalised their bikes. “In order to escape, Janakiraman jumped into the canal while the others fled. He could have drowned as there were no injury marks on his body,” said police.