Coimbatore: Five men held for killing wall painter

COIMBATORE: The Madukkarai police arrested five men on Friday for murdering a 23-year-old wall painter.
Police identified the victim as M Vijayan, of Palathurai at Madukkarai. Vijayan was killed by S Shabir, 24, of Malumichampatti and A Binas, 26, of Atlantic Nagar at Madukkarai with the help of S Dhanush, 25, of Madukkarai and S Hariharan, 21, of Ganeshapuram at Podanur who worked as wall painters and R Paruthi Vinayagam, 22, a Sundarapuram-based college student, a police officer said.
“Shabir and Binas were rearing dogs and roosters for sales. Dhanush, Hariharan and Vinayagam, who were regular buyers, had struck up a friendship with them. After roosters were stolen from Binas’s place at Madukkarai, he found that one Sasikumar was behind the thefts. Sasikumar used to hand over the stolen roosters to his friend Vijayan, a wall painter. Recently, Vijayan sold a stolen rooster to one Gowtham. When Binas and Shabir apprehended him, Vijayan returned the rooster,” the officer said.
Binas accused Vijayan of stealing several roosters in the last two months and demanded compensation. “On Thursday night, Shabir, Binas, Dhanush, Hariharan and Vinayagam took Vijayan to an isolated place at Madukkarai to sort out the issue. When a quarrel broke out, Binas and Shabir stabbed Vijayan with a knife. The other three men helped them. Vijayan died on the spot,” the officer added.
Madukkarai police inspector Vairam and team arrested the five men on Friday and remanded them in judicial custody. They were booked under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 342 (wrongful restraint), 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.