Police said Manjunath, 35, from Kalukondapalli near Mathigiri in Hosur taluk, was facing several cases of waylaying and assault in Hosur and Karnataka and he had gone missing a few days ago.

The Mathigiri police registered a missing case and were searching for him. Meanwhile, inquiries with his accomplices revealed that Manjunath was murdered in a brutal way.

The accused identified as Sethan, 23, Sandeep, 21 and Mani, 20, all relatives and hailing from Uliveeranapalli had invited Manjunath to consume liquor with a plan to murder him a week ago. “Then, the trio had thrown chilli powder on his face and attacked his head with a rod and beat him to death. They then buried his body near a pond in Uliveeranapalli,” police said.

Police first arrested Sethan and Sandeep and based on their information took Mani into custody. The trio confessed to have killed Manjunath as they were upset with him for ‘disturbing’ a woman relative.

Meanwhile, the body of Manjunath was exhumed in the presence of Denkanikottai Tashildar Ilango. A medical team then performed a post mortem and then handed over the body to the family members of the deceased.

Police also took the murderers to the crime scene and recorded their statements by asking them to enact the murder. Further inquiries are on.