Mob justice death: Case altered to murder; 2 engineering students detained

According to police, students from various districts studying in a private engineering college were staying in a mansion attached to the house of S Ramasamy (69) at Vaiyapuri Nagar.

Inquiries revealed that S Sabari (20) of Ramar Kottai, Palakode in Dharmapuri district and Y Antony (20) of Thangachi Madam in Ramanathapuram district, both third year students in the college were staying in a room in the mansion. 

It is alleged that the deceased, Michael Liberty (32) of Kootupuli near Radhapuram in Tirunelveli district tried to sneak into their room and steal Sabari’s mobile phone. The students said they tried to catch Michael and he reportedly jumped from the first floor of the building. The duo along with a few other college students staying in the mansion, caught Michael and beat him up. They then left him near the mansion and went to the college. 

Ramasamy, who saw the body of Michael around 10.30 am on Wednesday and alerted the police. The body was sent to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) for a post-mortem. The Kovilpalayam police have registered a suspicious death case under Section 174 of CrPC. 

Meanwhile, the victim’s brother J Karol (30) an advocate at Hosur, told police that his brother was murdered. The victim’s family and Karol’s friends who thronged the CMCH on Thursday refused to receive the body after autopsy and demanded the arrest of those responsible for his death.

“Early on Wednesday, Karol got a call from Sabari saying that he had caught Michael while he tried to when he tried to rob their room. “Since Karol was at Hosur, he asked Sabari to hand his brother over to the police. However, after some time, the Tirunelveli police came to Michael’s house at Kootupuli and informed that he had committed suicide,” Karol’s friend told DTNext.

Shocked over hearing this, Karol called Sabari but his phone was switched off. On Thursday, the pot-mortem revealed that Michael suffered multiple injuries causing blood clots as a result of an assault that claimed his life. Based on the post-mortem report, the case was altered to murder, said District Police Superintendent.