The State police have arraigned 14 youth on the charge of murdering Ananthu Girish, a local rival of theirs, at Karamana here in March.
In a chargesheet filed at the district court here, the police said the retaliatory murder was the fallout of a fist fight between two gangs at a temple festival in the neighbourhood. The police identified the main accused as Balu and Hari.
Investigators said alcohol, drugs, machismo, and gang mentality had fuelled the crime.
The assailants were handy-men who worked extra time as percussionists at temple festivals.
Ananthu Girish and his friends had picked a fight with them at the temple where they had dominion.
Officials said the accused were celebrating the birthday of one of their friends at an abandoned plot near Karamana when they learned that Ananthu was standing in front of a nearby bakery.
The accused reached the spot, forced him on to a motorcycle at knifepoint and hustled him away to the remote partying location.
Torture
According to the police, the gang tortured Ananthu for a long time. They beat him, sliced his veins, slammed a coconut on his head, and left him for dead. His friends and relatives discovered his body at the out-of-the-way location the next day.
The case had caused a public outcry and cast severe doubts upon the law enforcement’s competence to rein in the seemingly upward spiral of street gangsterism.
It also spawned a sense of insecurity among residents and also exposed the gaps in criminal intelligence.
The killing also highlighted the dilemma law enforcers faced on the street with the entry of younger and rasher gangs with no previous police record.
The Karamana police had come under harsh criticism for not handling the hostage situation pro-actively.
Local people had alleged that they had informed the police about the youth’s abduction, but they had remained indifferent.
Ananthu’s parents had reached the station at 10 p.m. and filed a missing person complaint after they searched for him in vain.
The State Human Rights Commission has sought a report on the police action.
