Months after assaulting rowdy, man stoned to death

CHENNAI: A 26-year-old cab driver was murdered by a gang near Kilpauk on Saturday night. Preliminary investigations suggested that the murder could be a retaliation to an incident six months ago when he assaulted a rowdy in full public view.

The deceased was identified as Karunakaran, who was living in Kuttiyappan Street in Kilpauk. Police investigations revealed that he was walking along the street when a gang rounded him up and started attacking him with stones. One of the gang members smashed a boulder across Karunakaran’s face after which he swooned to the ground.

Passersby who saw the man lying in a pool of blood took him to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. After getting information, the Secretariat Colony Police secured Karunakaran’s body and sent it to a government hospital for postmortem examination.

Police investigations revealed that Karunakaran himself has criminal cases against him. He was arrested in an attempt to murder case and had come out on bail in March.

In November last year, Karunakaran and his friends had assaulted a local rowdy, Yona, at a funeral in their locality. Police suspect Yona and his gang could be behind Karunakaran’s murder, as he was attacked with stones, the same way Yona was attacked after the argument turned into a group clash. Yona had suffered a fracture in his leg because of the attack.

Police have launched a search for Yona and his associates.