‘Heavily intoxicated’ man murders senior citizen near Coimbatore Medical College Hospital

COIMBATORE: A 32-year-old man was arrested on charges of murdering a senior citizen near Coimbatore Medical College Hospital on Monday. The arrested man has been identified as G Rajesh, a daily wage earner from Thanjavur who lives here. Rajesh allegedly murdered an unidentified man aged around 65 by crushing his head with a stone, according to police. The incident came to light when M Rajadurai, a 22-year-old ambulance driver, found the victim unconscious with severe head injuries near the CMCH mortuary gate. Police found a blood-stained paver block beside the body and shifted the victim to CMCH for postmortem. Police identified the suspect after examining CCTV footage. The footage showed Rajesh approaching the senior citizen, who was sleeping on the roadside, punching him in the face, and then attacking him with a heavy stone. It also showed him sleeping beside the body for several hours before leaving the scene the next morning. During interrogation, Rajesh told police that he had been “heavily intoxicated” at the time and did not intend to commit murder. Police said Rajesh was a repeat offender and was booked in a murder case in 2019. He was remanded in judicial custody.