TIRUCHY: A man was murdered in a drunken brawl in Tiruchy and two of his friends were arrested on Thursday.

Friends R Naveen Kumar (29) and Raja (28) both residents of VOC Nagar near Lalgudi quarreled over a petty issue recently and were not speaking with each other for a few days.

Against such a backdrop, a birthday celebration for a child of one of their friends was held on Wednesday.

Both Naveen Kumar and Raja took part and consumed liquor. While they were enjoying the booze, one of their friends asked Naveen Kumar why he was not talking to Raja and this triggered an altercation and snowballed into an assault. Suddenly, one among them attacked Naveen with an aruval and escaped.

Naveen sustained severe injuries died on the spot. Lalgudi police rushed to the spot and retrieved the body and sent it to GH and arrested two persons, Bala and Srinath. A search is on for three more including Raja.