A person was found dead on Munambam Kuzhuppilly beach in Kerala’s Ernakulam district on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Pranav, hailing from nearby Cherayi. Munamba police, who started an investigation, assume that he was beaten to death. His body was found in the middle of a road that leads to the beach.
A group of fishermen, on their way to work, found Pranav’s body at 4 am. Parts of the stick that was allegedly used to hit him was found near his body, along with pieces of tube lights. His footwear was found some distance from his body. This evidence led the police to assume that there was a clash before the murder took place.
Pranav sustained severe wounds to his head and hands, which were broken. There were also slash wounds all over his body.
Police said that they patrolled the area till 1 am on Sunday, yet they didn’t find anything suspicious on their rounds. For this reason, they assume that the incident might have occurred after that. Locals said that miscreants used to gather in the area earlier, causing a lot of issues. This is why police started patrolling the area in the first place.
The deceased was reportedly involved in gang activity, which may have led to clashes and subsequently his death.
Last March, police arrested an eight-member gang from a homestay in Munambam. Seven of its members were from Tamil Nadu. Police said that they were conspiring to settle scores with a local rival and kill him. They were allegedly hired by a local goonda for Rs 3 lakh. Swords and iron rods were seized from the gang’s possession.
In July, another three-member gang from Vypin was arrested in Cherthala for a murder conspiracy. They tried to murder a 48-year-old man after allegedly being hired by a supreme court lawyer. The SC lawyer, Balakrishna Pillai, was the prime accused in the case. The victim was reportedly one of his relatives.