Man beaten to death; four held

Quarrel over cow grazing in a field

A quarrel over a cow grazing in an agricultural field has led to the murder of a farmer of Rangiyanviduthi near Karambakudi in Pudukottai district.

The victim, who owned the cow, was allegedly tied to an electricity pole and brutally assaulted by a group of four persons.

The incident took place in the early hours of Wednesday when the cow owned by V.Karuppiah (60) had strayed into the field of A.Govindaraj (60) of the same village and reportedly destroyed the banana crop.

Irked over this, Govindaraj and his associates picked up a quarrel with Karuppiah and tied him to an electricity pole. Govindaraj and his associates were alleged to have assaulted him brutally.

Although they had set him free after some time, Karuppiah was said to have to collapsed on the spot soon after and died.

The Karambakudi police on Thursday, arrested four persons including Govindaraj, V. Durairaj (50), V. Chinnappa (43) and M. Dhanasekar (45) and booked them on the charge of murder.

The accused were later produced before the Judicial Magistrate in Alangudi, who remanded them to 15 days judicial custody.