A youngster was stabbed to death in front of his mother by a group of persons after an altercation in a toddy shop at Chungom near the Stone Bridge here on Wednesday.
Manilal, 24, who used to run a tyre re-treading business in Maharashtra, had recently joined his mother Nalini to supply curries and other food items to the toddy shop. Last Sunday, the same group had a squabble with another group in the toddy shop and Manilal had intervened to stop the fight. On Tuesday, the group, after attending a court case here, arrived at the toddy shop around 1 p.m. and after getting inebriated, allegedly entered into an argument with Manilal.
As the argument got violent, Nalini and another staff in the shop, Shyamkumar, forcibly took Manilal inside another room in the shop and locked the door. However, the group broke open the door and after pushing Nalini aside, first broke a bottle on Manilal’s head. They then dragged him outside and using a knife they had with them, stabbed him once in the chest. The assailants then fled the spot.
Though Manilal was rushed to the Alappuzha General Hospital, he had bled to death by then. Shyamkumar, who was injured in the melee, is undergoing treatment in the hospital.
Police have reportedly taken seven persons into custody in connection with the murder.
