6 men beat two rowdies to death on Chennai fringes

CHENNAI: A gang of six men on Sunday beat two history-sheeters to death when the two went to settle a love matter involving one of their friends during a volleyball match at Ponneri, 45km from Chennai, in Tiruvallur district, police said.
A team sent the bodies of Veera and Sudhakar, who were hammered with cricket bats, stumps and stones, to the government hospital in Ponneri for postmortem, while Gautham, their friend, fled.Police later arrested D Jayaprakash, 26, R Deepan, 22, R Ranjith, 22, and V Sugan, 22, of Periya Colony in Aaladu near Ponneri, P Samuvel, 22, of Pudu Kacheri Road, and J Harish Kumar, 22, of Sakthi Nagar and charged them with murder. A court sent them to jail on Monday.
Police said Gautham and his friend Jayaprakash had fallen in love with a girl student of a Gummidipoondi college after befriending her through Facebook.
Friends turn foes after knowing their love interest was the same
However, after coming to know that their love interest was the same, the close friends turned foes.
A few days ago, Gautham greeted Jayaprakash, a diploma holder in electrical and electronics engineering, and tried to reach out to him but was snubbed, a police officer said.
On Sunday, the officer said, Gautham asked Veera, 25, and Sudhakar, 26, to help him patch up with Jayaprakash and to warn him to stay away from his girlfriend.
Veera and Sudhakar, of Venpakkam village in Ponneri, were involved in 4-5 criminal cases, including a 2018 murder, at different police stations in Tiruvallur district.
Aware that Jayaprakash was playing volleyball with some friends in Aaladu village, the two men and Gautham went there to make peace. But a fresh quarrel broke out and soon turned into a fist fight.
Jayaprakash and the five others attacked the two men and smashed their heads with stones, killing them on the spot, said the officer.
Sudhakar is survived by his newly wed wife, while Veera was a bachelor.
Later, special teams formed by Tiruvallur district superintendent of police P Aravindan nabbed the six men. Further investigations are on.