A middle-aged man was allegedly hammered to death by his half-brother following a drunken brawl at their home at Illikkunnu near Koothattukulam on Thursday night.
The deceased was identified as Prakashan, 48, while the accused Laiju, 38, was picked up by the police from Palakkad on Friday morning.
According to the police, the two had engaged in skirmishes following a quarrel over drinks, after which Prakashan had retired for the night when Laiju hit him on the head with a hammer. Prakashan succumbed to injuries, while Laiju fled from the scene.
Laiju then rang up his mother around 8 a.m. on Friday probably to know Prakashan’s fate. “We had the mobile phone of Laiju’s mother with us, and we disconnected the call as soon as it was received when a municipal siren went off exactly at that time. That would have been a clear giveaway that the police had his mother’s phone,” said K. Brijukumar, Sub Inspector, Koothattukulam.
However, Laiju probably got the impression that his mother too was in police custody, and so he appeared at the Palakkad East police station, within the limits of which he was at that point. He confessed to the police that he had hit Prakashan, and that he was not able to talk to his mother.
“However, we had alerted the Palakkad police even before he appeared before them as we were able to track down his mobile phone tower location as soon as we received his call though he had dislodged the SIM card shortly thereafter,” said Mr. Brijukumar.
The Koothattukulam police were already on their way to Palakkad when they were alerted that the accused had turned himself in. The police took him into custody and brought him to Koothattukulam where his arrest was recorded.
The police have charged him with IPC Section 302 (murder). He will be produced in court on Saturday.
