Death of a man suspected to be due to a tiger attack in the late hours of March 17, 2015, turned out to be a murder. The police on Monday arrested P. Balar (27) for murdering his friend K. Bhuvaneswaran (47) by attacking him with a rod, and stabbing him to death. The police said that the two were estate workers, and were residing in a tea estate near Gudalur. Bhuvaneswaran used to perform ‘paravai kavadi’ ritual at temple festivals. He used to get good money for the same.
Earlier this year, Balar asked Bhuvaneswaran to give him a chance to perform the ritual, which needed piercing one’s body using hooks and hang like a bird. But Bhuvaneswaran refused.
This led to the murder. The body was found in a remote area. The police initially believed that a tiger could have killed Bhuvaneswaran.
The post-mortem examination report showed that he was not killed by animal.
After Bhuvaneswaran’s death Balar was performing the ritual. He spilled the beans when police questioned him. The police recovered the weapon used for the murder, arrested Balar on Monday.
