On Thursday morning, a police team doing the rounds in George Town found the body of a man in a pool of blood.
What they thought was a case of accidental death soon turned out to be a murder. The victim A. Subramani (55), a lorry commission agent had been stoned to death at the junction of Sembudoss Road and Mc Lean Road by his fellow agent, who was angry over being teased for his poor eyesight, and business rivalry.
‘Oola’ Subramani was a resident of Erukenchery in Kodungaiyur and used to arrange labourers for loading and unloading goods from lorries.
He would also supplement his income by working as a labourer in the neighbourhood. The accused in the murder ‘Nolla Kannu’ Ranganathan is also an agent and was often ridiculed for his poor eyesight. Both of them were pavement dwellers.
Around 1 a.m. on Thursday, a group of agents drank on the pavement and the duo ended up arguing. Subsequently, Subramani and Ranganathan threw small stones at each other and Subramani was pushed to the ground by the latter.
Before Subramani could get up from the ground, Ranganathan dropped a stone on him and then collapsed into drunken stupor. A heavily bleeding and drunk Subramani could not call for help.
“The stone that was used to kill Subramani weighs around 20 kg. As the crime spot was not well-lit, no one noticed the extent to which Subramani was injured,” said S. Chellappa, inspector (Crime in-charge), Esplanade police.
During routine rounds, an Esplanade police team found a dead Subramani, around 6 a.m. on Thursday.
