Koothattukulam (Kochi): In a shocking incident, a 47-year-old man was murdered by his friend, who smashed his head against a hard object following a dispute over using the toilet.

The deceased was identified as Radhakrishnan alias Binu of Anandbhavan in Amboori, Thiruvananthapuram, who worked at a meat stall at Pandappilly near Koothattukulam.

Nagarjunan (22), a native of Thenkasi who had been staying with the victim, was arrested in connection with the murder.

The incident took place on Tuesday evening. Both the accused and the victim, employees of a meat stall here, had been staying at a house owned by the meat stall owner at Karimpana. Earlier in the afternoon, Radhakrishnan approached the house owner with a complaint against the accused following a dispute over using the toilet. The murder took place during a similar argument that broke out later in the night.

Nagarjunan fled to Thenkasi after committing the murder. However, quick action by the police led to his arrest within a few hours.

Radhakrishnan was found lying dead by the meat stall owner, who had reached the house to wake up his employees. The body was handed over to the victim’s relatives after a post-mortem, and it was cremated soon afterward.

Accused held in just two and a half hours

The Koothattukulam police nabbed the accused within just two-and-a-half hours after the murder took place. The cops were alerted about the murder around 4:30 am. On finding that Nagarjun had gone missing from the crime scene, the police passed on information to various police stations and eventually found that the accused was travelling along the Punalur-Thenmala route.

Following this, they contacted the Tamil Nadu police and took the accused into custody with the help of the Q Branch from the Thenkasi bus stand around 7 am.