A 62-year-old autorickshaw driver was beaten to death by four youths at Kallambalam in the district in the early hours of Wednesday, just hours before his daughter’s marriage.
The deceased, identified as Raju of Vadasserikonam, was cruelly assaulted and bludgeoned with a spade at his house, the police said citing eyewitness accounts. The youths, Jishnu, Jijin, Shyam and Manu were later arrested by the police.
Several people, including the bride and her mother Jaya, were injured in the assault.
The youths, who are in their mid-twenties, allegedly bore a grudge against the girl’s family for not consenting to her marriage with Jishnu, one of the accused, who lived in the neighbourhood, the police said.
The girl’s marriage with a man hailing from Cherunniyoor was fixed for Wednesday morning.
The incident which shocked the district occurred around 1 a.m. on Wednesday. By then, most of the guests who had been attending a reception at the house ahead of the wedding had left. But several close relatives were present when the attack took place. The assailants had arrived at Raju’s residence in a car and had demanded to see the girl.
When Raju objected and asked them to leave, they had attacked him. Reportedly, Jijin hit Raju with a spade, fatally injuring him. Raju’s wife, his daughter and two relatives also sustained injuries when they attempted to intervene. Although Raju was rushed to a hospital in Varkala, he could not be saved. The assailants had escaped on hearing about his death, but were later caught by the police.
