A 10-member special team headed by the Kozhinjampara Inspector has been formed to probe the death of an unidentified man from Tamil Nadu, who was allegedly beaten to death by seven youths from Kozhinjampara in Palakkad on October 10, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala informed the Kerala Assembly.

The minister was responding to a request for a comprehensive probe raised by Chittur MLA Sumesh Achuthan. The Home Minister has also directed the ADGP (Intelligence) to contact his Tamil Nadu counterpart to help establish the identity of the deceased.

The man was found dead near the Chittur dam at 8.30 am on October 11. A case was initially registered under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), pertaining to unnatural death and an investigation was launched.

During the postmortem at Thrissur Medical College Hospital, preliminary findings indicated that the man had been subjected to assault. Following this, the Meenakshipuram police examined CCTV footage from the area. The police came across a video showing seven youths throwing stones at the man. The youths were subsequently taken into custody for questioning.

DYSP Sasidharan told Onmanorama that the youths confessed to the crime during questioning. The accused, Karthik (26), Sanjay (27), Manikandan (25), Kathiresan (23), Naveen (24), Prasanth Kumar (30) and Suryaprakash (23), are all residents of the Srambi tribal settlement in Kozhinjampara. They were arrested and produced before the Chittur First Class Magistrate Court, which remanded them to custody.

Kozhinjampara Inspector Rajeesh told Onmanorama that the investigation team had visited locations where the deceased was reportedly seen wandering, including Ambalapara, Chungam and other areas near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. The investigation has since been extended to bordering areas of Tamil Nadu, the officer said.

Photographs of the deceased have been circulated among various groups, including local body representatives in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu, in an effort to establish his identity, the officer added. "The DYSP is in constant communication with officials of Anaimalai police station as part of the efforts to seek assistance from Tamil Nadu's ADGP (Intelligence),” Rajeesh said.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the incident should never have occurred in the first place. "When I read the news, what came to my mind was the image of the man who was beaten to death in Attappadi on the allegation that he had stolen rice from a shop. We know how that case concluded. The witnesses changed sides, and the family of Madhu, who has no one to support them, continues to live in pain," he said.

"We had hoped that Madhu's case would be the last such incident in Kerala, a state we take pride in for being different from other states. The Mannarkkad SC/ST Court itself had expressed the hope that this would be the last such mob attack," he added.

The minister said the deceased, whose age was estimated to be between 35 and 40, had sustained around 52 injuries. "Whoever he may be, such an incident should not have happened," he said.

According to the case report submitted by the police to the court, the youths had become agitated with the man after he allegedly committed an act of indecent exposure to a woman in the area on October 9.

"The police are the law-enforcement agency. They have the responsibility to investigate whether such a crime has occurred and ensure that those responsible are punished. People taking the law into their own hands cannot be accepted. The police and courts exist for a reason," he said.