Kasaragod: Kumbla Police have arrested a second person in the murder of Shafayath (36), a poultry transporter found dead with severe head injuries at Seethangoli near Kumbla here on April 28.

The second accused, N Arun Kumar (39), a native of Nekraje in Badiadka panchayat, runs a tea shop in Seethangoli. He was arrested after fresh details emerged during the custodial interrogation of the main accused, Sreenivasa (39), a hearing-impaired man who was arrested the day after the murder. Police said the murder was an act of revenge. 

According to the police, the murder had its roots in a group clash near the Bevco outlet in Seethangoli in the morning of April 28. During the clash, Shafayath allegedly twisted Arun Kumar’s arm. Police had intervened and dispersed the crowd, during which  Shafayath’s mobile phone was impounded.

Investigators said Arun Kumar nursed a grudge over the incident and later asked Sreenivasa, a resident of Kottakkara at Naikap in Kumbla, for revenge immediately. During questioning, Arun Kumar reportedly told police that he wanted Sreenivasa only to injure Shafayath’s arm. But the blow landed on Shafayath’s head, with his body being found by residents around 2 pm the same day, behind an under-construction building near the same Bevco outlet. The blood-stained wooden plank believed to have been used in the attack was recovered from the spot.

Shafayath was the father of four young children. Arun Kumar was produced before the court and remanded.