Two held for murdering 18-year-old, burning body

Coimbatore: Sulur police on Friday arrested two goat herders, who murdered a youngster and burned his body following a dispute.

The arrested were identified as D Muthupandi, 21, of Pillaiyar Thottiyankulam near Aruppukkottai in Virudhunagar district and M Pandian, 70, of Balasamudram in Palani.

“Both of them were working as goat herders under P Ayyasamy of Therkkupalayam near Kalangal village in Sulur. They were engaged in grazing goats in Kalangal village and surrounding areas. The victim, 18-year-old S Arulraj of Senrampalayam near Kinathukadavu, had joined them six months ago for the work and was staying in a room along with Pandian and Muthupandi. On the evening of October 11, when Arulraj failed to return to the room, Ayyasamy launched a search for him. But, he could not trace the youngster. Arulraj’s charred body was found in an isolated place the next day,” a police officer said.

Meanwhile, Pandian and Muthupandi went missing. A special police team constituted to nab them picked them from Chennai.

“They told police that they killed Arulraj following a petty quarrel. When they were consuming toddy with Arulraj in an isolated place, Arulraj started to abuse Pandian using bad words. Though Muthupandi told Arulraj not to do so, he did not listen. Heated arguments arouse between Muthupandi and Arulraj, which soon turned into a scuffle. Arulraj, who fell down during the melee, suffered severe head injuries and became unconscious. The duo strangled him to death and burnt the body using kerosene,” the officer added. Further investigation is on.


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