COIMBATORE: A 24-year-old youth strangled a 15-year-old boy to death and ended his life by hanging in Salem.

The deceased, N Thowshik (15), son of a daily-wage couple, Nagaraj and Vijayalakshmi, from Kottaimedu near Elampillai, was studying Class ten at KR Thoppur Government School.

He was friends with V Sivaraj (24), a weaver from Chittanur near Edanganasalai. On Thursday evening, Sivaraj took Thowshik in his two-wheeler.

As they did not return home for a long time, their parents lodged a missing complaint with the Magudanchavadi police. On receiving information that a boy was found dead in the Mettukadu area along KR Thoppur Road, a police team rushed to the spot and identified him as Thowshik.

An examination revealed that the boy was strangled to death. While a search was on to trace Sivaraj, the Tharamangalam police received information that a youth was hanging in a tree at Periapatti graveyard area. The police later identified him as Sivaraj.

The police sent the body of Sivaraj to Omalur Government Hospital and Thowshik to Salem Government Hospital for a post-mortem examination. The Superintendent of Police visited the crime scenes and conducted an inquiry.

The Magudanchavadi police registered a case of murder while Tharamangalam police registered a case of suicide. “The murder could have been a fallout of a quarrel between them two days ago over some issue. Sivaraj might have ended his life out of fear,” the police said.