Gang teases daughter, beats father to death

THRISSUR: A 54-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death by a group of people for questioning their attempts to tease his daughter at Chavakkad on Wednesday night.Police have identified the victim as V P Rameshan of Pancharamukku.

According to the police, the incident happened when Rameshan was going home on a bike with his son, who is a Class X student, and daughter, who is a Plus I student, on Wednesday night. The miscreants teased and howled at his daughter when they reached the neighbouring Paluvayi area.

Rameshan came back to Paluvayi after dropping his children at his home in Pancharamukku. The gang members, who were reportedly drunk, assaulted Rameshan when he questioned them for teasing his daughter.

By then, his brother Suresh who had reached the spot tried to take Rameshan away from the scene. However, Rameshan fainted after they travelled about 50 meters and he was rushed to a hospital.

Rameshan breathed his last on Thursday noon. Police have registered a case of unnatural death.

Rameshan's body has been sent to the Thrissur Medical College Hospital for postmortem. "We will be able to assess the exact cause of his death only after receiving the post-mortem report," said an officer with the Chavakkad police station.

Rameshan, who works at the local unit of the Kajah Beedi company , is the presi dent of the Congress ward committee.

The Congress called for a hartal in the area in protest on Thursday afternoon.

Chavakkad circle-inspector A J Johnson said the police have registered a case of culpable homicide against three persons in connection with the death of Rameshan. He said that a hunt is on for them.

Johnson said according to the preliminary post-mortem report, Rameshan had a cardiac ailment history and the death was due to a heart attack. But the assault by the gang members could have contributed to the cardiac arrest, he said.