9 in police custody for lynching 20-year-old in Kozhikode: Cops

Nine people were taken into custody in Kozhikode district on Sunday in connection with the alleged lynching of a 20-year-old man at Chevayur the previous day, police said.

Sooraj Ambalakkandy, who worked at a car service centre, succumbed to injuries after he was physical assaulted by a group of people on late Saturday night, ACP (Medical College sub-division) A Umesh said, adding that the autopsy report indicated that he died of asphyxiation and injuries to the neck.

Among those who are in police custody include Ambalakkandy’s neighbour Manoj and his sons Ajay and Vijay, considered to be the key suspects who allegedly initiated and took part in the assault on Saturday, the officer said.

The attack was due to a dispute over parking of car at the SNES College in Chathamangalam, the ACP said.

He further said that Sooraj had intervened in the dispute over parking on behalf of his friend Aswanth with one of the sons of Manoj at the college on Saturday. Later on the same day, a group of people led by Manoj and his sons confronted Sooraj in connection with the festival of a local temple in Palakottuvayal.

“The violence escalated there as more people reached the spot. Sooraj was pinned to the ground by the mob and possibly stamped upon on the neck and his chest. There were internal injuries that perhaps led to his death at the hospital,” Umesh told reporters.

Following Sooraj’s death, the locals and his family vandalised the home of Manoj and his vehicles. The police have heightened security in the area fearing law and order issues.