Youth lynched in Chennai for stealing rods; 8 including 3 engineers held

CHENNAI: Eight men including three engineers beat a 23-year-old man to death after he was caught while attempting to escape after allegedly stealing iron rods at a building construction site at Toddhunter Nagar in Saidapet on Monday night, police said.
All the eight men were arrested on murder charges before a court sent them to jail on Tuesday. A hunt is on for two others for allegedly concealing information about the attack, an investigation officer said.
Police, who identified the deceased youngster as Shahin Sha Khader, a resident of Venkatapuram near the place where he was caught, said he had gone with his friends Vinoth, 20, and Hemanathan, 20, to the site where government quarters were being constructed. Police quoting witnesses said the three were stealing iron rods when some of those involved in the construction saw them. While Khader and Vinoth were caught, an investigation officer said, Hemanathan managed to escape from the spot.
As the workers began thrashing the two youths, Hemanathan informed their family members who came to the spot. They took Khader and Vinoth to a hospital where doctors after an examination declared Khader dead, he said.
Saidapet assistant commissioner of police Christin Jayasil and his team sent Khader's body to Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH) for postmortem. Vinoth was admitted to the GRH for treatment. Police identified four of the attackers as civil engineers Uma Maheshwaran, Jayaram and Thambiraj and construction worker Sivaprakasam.