A man was beaten to death by a three-member group after he allegedly stole their bike at Olavakode, near here, on Thursday night.
Rafeek, 27, son of Mustafa from Kadukkamkunnam, Malampuzha, died after having been beaten up by the drunken group. Police arrested Guruvayurappan, 25, from Kollengode, Maneesh, 23, from Alathur, and Surya, 20, from Pallassana, in connection with the incident.
The incident
The incident took place at Aiswarya Nagar Colony near Palakkad Junction Railway Station late on Thursday. The trio went into a bar at Olavakode on their way back from Kummatti festival at Mundur. When they came out of the bar, their bike was missing.
They complained to the security guard at the bar, and examined the surveillance camera footage, which showed a man taking away their bike. As they searched for their bike, they found Rafeek at Olavakode junction and beat him up.
Rafeek later showed them the place where he kept the bike, but the trio continued beating him until he collapsed. One of the persons who watched the assault called the police. Although the police shifted Rafeek to hospital, he died around 1 a.m.
The police denied the reports that it was a case of lynching. They said the drunken trio had beaten up Rafeek and a group of people were witness to it.
The police said Rafeek had been involved in several criminal cases, including narcotic and theft cases.
Post-mortem report
A post-mortem conducted at the General Hospital here found that there were 26 wounds on his body. His jaw bone and spine were broken. An injury to his head turned fatal, according to the postmortem report.
The police said the head injury must have been caused either by banging the head against the wall or by whacking the head with a brick or stone. There was severe hemorrhage in the head, the police said.
