Police investigations revealed that the three of them had taken a train from Avadi to Chennai Central railway station and reached Marina beach from there. The trio was sitting near shops opposite the PWD headquarters and were talking when a gang which reached around 10 pm started attacking them with wooden logs and weapons.

The three of them attempted to run, but they were chased and attacked, police said. Police personnel reached the scene on information and moved the injured trio to Government Royapettah Hospital, where Vignesh was declared brought dead.

Aravindan suffered a fracture on his hands and Sanjay is in a critical condition with internal bleeding in brain, a police officer said.

Anna Square Police have registered a case of murder and have launched a search for the suspects. Police moved Vignesh's body to Government Omandurar multi specialty hospital for postmortem. Preliminary investigations by police have suggested that the trio were attacked by locals who assumed that they were thieves. Three persons are being questioned in connection with the murder.