After reported assault, man hangs self

Three days after being reportedly assaulted by a group of men, a 23-year-old man was found hanging in his house on Friday.

Relatives of Mohammed Sajid, a resident of Kuttippala in Kerala's Malappuram district, shifted him to a private hospital where he was declared dead.

What happened

On early hours of August 28, Sajid was found under "suspicious” circumstances near a house in Mammalippadi near Kottakkal.

A group of men then reportedly tied Sajid up and assaulted him. They later circulated a video of the assault on social media groups.

Sajid’s relatives and friends said that he was under severe mental stress after the incident.

Police said that Sajid had tried to enter the house in Mammalippadi but was intercepted and detained by residents of the house and others in the locality.

Acting on a phone call received at about 1.15 am, a police team arrived at the house and took Sajid into custody. The team had his medical tests done at a local hospital and took him to the Kalpakanchery station.

A police official told DH on Saturday that Sajid was not tied up when the police arrived at the spot.

He said that the police came to know of the assault only after watching the videos on Saturday.

Residents knew him

“Later in the day, residents of the house informed us that they knew Sajid and they didn’t want a case to be registered. Based on their request, we called his father to the station and released him,” he said.

Media reports termed it a case of moral policing but police refused to confirm the motive behind the reported assault.

“A case of unnatural death has been registered. Based on findings of the probe, we’ll decide on bringing in other sections to the case,” the police official said.