Moolathara lynching accused remanded

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The seven youths arrested in connection with the lynching of an unidentified man at Moolathara near Chittur were produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday.

They were Sooryaprakash, 22, Kathiresan, 23, Karthik, 26, Naveen, 24, Prashanth, 35, Manikandan, 25, and Sanjay, 27, all from Srambi hamlet at Kozhinjampara.

The incident took place on Saturday night. The man was found dead under suspicious circumstances near the Moolathara regulator on Sunday morning.

Police initially registered a case of unnatural death. However, a post-mortem examination conducted at Government Medical College, Thrissur, on Monday confirmed that it was a murder.

An intensive investigation by the police focusing on CCTV footage from the area led to the arrest of the accused within hours.

According to their statements to the police, the accused followed the man for about a kilometre and assaulted him at around 10 p.m. on Saturday.

Local residents said they had seen the man, believed to be around 40 years old, in and around the area for about a week. However, nobody knew his identity or other details about him.

The investigation has been extended to Tamil Nadu to establish the victim’s identity. Chittur Deputy Superintendent of Police M. Sasidharan is leading the investigation.

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