Man murdered for refusing to give money to buy alcohol; 3 arrested

CHENNAI: Police have arrested three persons of a five-member gang who attacked a man brutally with a stone and killed him and left his brother injured, after they refused to part with their money for the gang to buy liquor near Villivakkam on Saturday night.

The deceased was identified as Manikandan (28) of Moorthy Nagar, Villivakkam. On Saturday, he was on his way to his new house after loading household items in a load van when a gang intercepted the vehicle. Manikandan's brother, Prabakaran too was in the vehicle.

The gang demanded that the brothers pay them up to buy liquor, claiming that they are local thugs. Manikandan tried to evade them by telling them that he did not have money and assured them to pay after unloading the items.

However, the gang picked up a fight with him and asked him for his gold chain. When he refused, they took the key from the vehicle and made the brothers alight from the van and started attacking them. They pelted stones at Manikandan and his brother and fled the scene after the neighbours alerted the police.

The injured were moved to a hospital, where Manikandan was declared brought dead. ICF Police registered a case of murder and using CCTV footage and arrested three persons - Hariharan, Vignesh and Alexandar from the same locality.

Search is on for the absconding accused.

Police said that Manikandan was married a year ago and have a child.