Youth beaten to death in Kozhikode, police arrest three

Kozhikode: A 20-year-old youth was brutally beaten to death during a temple festival in Chevayur on Saturday night. The deceased has been identified as Suraj, 20, son of M K Bobby from Palakkottuvayal. Chevayur police arrested Manoj Kumar, 49, from Perayattu, Palakkottuvayal, and his sons Ajay Manoj, 20, and Vijay Manoj, 19, in connection with the incident. Police also filed cases against about 15 other identifiable individuals related to the murder and took at least 10 of them into custody.

The crime happened around 11.30pm on Saturday night. Suraj was brutally beaten by a group during the Palakkottuvayal Thiruthikavu temple festival. The murder allegedly stemmed from a minor dispute among students, said police.

Suraj's friend Ashwanth and Vijay Manoj, one of the arrested, study at Chathamangalam SNES College. There was a minor scuffle between the juniors and seniors earlier over a car being driven onto the college campus, leading to multiple threats. On Saturday night, Ashwanth attended the temple festival at Palakkottuvayal, where Vijay and his associates confronted him, sparking the issue.

Police said Suraj intervened on behalf of his friend Ashwanth, which led to animosity from the accused. Although the initial conflict was resolved, Vijay's father Manoj and others allegedly provoked the situation again, insisting that the matter should be settled through a fight, police said.

Claiming to resolve the issue, the attackers took Suraj to another location, where another argument ensued, and over 15 people, including the arrested suspects, brutally assaulted Suraj. Even after Suraj fell to the ground with a stab wound to the stomach, the attackers allegedly continued to stomp on him, causing severe injuries, police added.

Police said that the powerful kicks with shoes led to serious injuries to his ribs and neck. Unconscious, Suraj was taken to the Medical College Hospital by locals at midnight, where he succumbed to his injuries. The postmortem at the medical college initially revealed that Suraj died due to suffocation from severe neck injuries.

Upon learning about the incident, a group of people attacked the accused's house that night, smashing the windows of a car parked in the yard, breaking the house's windowpanes, and overturning a bike.