Chennai: Man kills friend by stuffing sand in mouth; held

CHENNAI: The police arrested a 30-year-old two-wheeler mechanic for the murder of his friend in Kannapalayam near Avadi. The accused had stuffed sand into the victim's mouth after a drunken brawl on September 20.

The arrested man was identified as Madan (30). Madan. The deceased was his friend, Vasanthakumar (45), a tailor. On September 21, Vasanthakumar's body was found on the banks of a waterbody. The police initially registered a case of suspicious death and sent the body to the Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital for postmortem.

The report revealed that sand had been stuffed into Vasanthakumar's mouth, following which police intensified the investigation and detained his friend, Madan. During questioning, police found that Vasanthakumar and Madan had gone to the tank bund on the night of September 20 and consumed liquor. A quarrel broke out between the two, following which Madan allegedly stuffed sand into Vasanthakumar's mouth and left the spot.

Vasanthakumar, who was allegedly heavily intoxicated, suffocated and died, police said. Subsequently, the police arrested Madan on Friday. He was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.