CHENNAI: The Government Railway Police (GRP) in Chennai have arrested a 25-year-old youth, who beat up a 50-year-old man to death in an inebriated condition as the latter refused to share his "CoolLip" (oral tobacco) with him.
The Mambalam GRP received an alert from the government hospital staff in Saidapet on Sunday night (September 14) about a man admitted to the hospital with injuries. He was found near Saidapet railway station. The man succumbed to his injuries during the early hours of Monday, after which the Railway police registered a case of suspicious death.
Results of the post-mortem examination suggested that the injuries on the man were not consistent with injuries inflicted by a train hit, and suggested the possibility of an attack by another person.
When the police reviewed the CCTV footage at the Saidapet railway station, they noticed the victim was being attacked and kicked by a youth.
The deceased was identified as B Ramesh (50) of T Nagar. Using the CCTV footage, police traced the attacker and apprehended Mohammed Riyaz (25) of Kovilambakkam.
The accused allegedly confessed to the interrogators that he assaulted Ramesh as he refused to share "CoolLip" with him. On Sunday night, Riyaz, in an inebriated state, was roaming at the Saidapet railway station when he noticed Ramesh seated on the platform.
On noticing cool lip packets in Ramesh's pockets, Riyaz had asked Ramesh to part with some. However, Ramesh told Riyaz that he did not have them with him. Enraged over this, Riyaz pushed Ramesh to the ground and repeatedly kicked him and fled the scene after the man became unconscious. The accused was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.