Chennai: A 19-year-old youth was beaten to death by his friend and buried on a beach near Pulicat on Wednesday. Police arrested two men in connection with the murder and exhumed the victim’s body on Friday. Police suspect that an affair led to the murder.Police identified the deceased as Prashanth, son of Ezhilselvi of Siruvathur village in Cuddalore district. Ezhilselvi works as a domestic help at an actor’s residence in Chennai.Prashanth, who worked as a tile-layer, told his uncle on Oct 27 that he was leaving for Chennai to meet his mother. The next day, he allegedly made a video call to his friend Ramesh, crying for help and claiming that he was being assaulted. His phone was soon switched off.After Ramesh lodged a complaint, Pudupettai police in Cuddalore district registered a missing-person case. During investigation, police found that Prashanth was in a relationship with the wife of his friend, S Devarasu, 18, who belonged to the same village.Police said Devarasu asked Prashanth to come to Pulicat. Along with his friend G Dinesh, 23, he took Prashanth to the beach near Pulicat, beat him to death, and buried his body in the sand. Cuddalore police arrested the two men and brought them to Chennai.The accused took police to the burial spot at Sathankuppam beach. The body was exhumed from a shallow grave and sent to Ponneri govt hospital for postmortem.As the murder took place within Thirupalaivanam police limits, local police have registered a new case.
