Kochi: The police have gathered CCTV visuals that show attackers returning together after murdering a youth in Vypin, Cherai here over a lover's spat.
The four accused had attacked and hit the victim, Pranav on the head near the Pallathamkulangara beach around 4 am on Tuesday, September 22.
Sarath, Jibin and Ambati, all residents of Cherai, have been arrested in the case.
The police said they hit Pranav with sticks of the quickstick (seemakonna) tree. Pieces of the sticks were found near Pranav’s body.
The death was caused by a deep injury on the pate of the head. The accused left the spot after ensuring Pranav's death.
The Munambam police took the three arrested accused to the spot of the crime on Thursday to collect evidence. The fourth accused will soon be taken into custody, the police said.
Pranav was also stabbed in the head and body with a small knife. The accused showed the police the shrimp farm where they threw the knife.
Pranav was attacked over his affair with a young woman. The problem started when the woman, who loved Pranav, became close to Sarath from the gang. This created friction between Sarath and Pranav.
Sarath decided to eliminate Pranav peeved that the girl maintained a close relationship with him. For this, he sought the help of his friends.
CCTV visuals show that Pranav had arrived at the beach with two friends on Tuesday morning. The friends stood a little distance away from the beach so as not to be a hindrance to the conversation between Pranav and the girl, the police said.
Although they heard Pranav’s loud screams a little while later, they thought that Pranav had been caught with the girl. When they couldn’t reach Pranav on the phone, they returned to Cherai.
Pranav went to the beach early in the morning after receiving a message in the girl's name. Sarath and his gang, who knew that Pranav would come to meet her whenever she called, had initially wanted to make the girl call Pranav, but they later changed their mind.
They then created an account in the name of the girl and started chatting with Pranav. In the middle of the night on Monday, too, they chatted with Pranav on social media and later asked to come to the beach. Pranav went to the beach believing the message was from the girl.
The murdered Pranav was an accused in three criminal cases, including one for possession of weapons.
