24-year-old man alleges sexual abuse, murders colleague

COIMBATORE: A 30-year-old man, R Sampathkumar, who worked in a saloon, was strangled by his roommate, friend and colleague Nagaraj at Kavundampalayam in the city on Friday night.
The accused had staged the murder before heading out to work the next day, only to return home at night and raise an alarm. Police arrested Nagaraj after he confessed to having murdered his friend.
He said he was being forced to have a sexual relationship with the deceased. When the harassment continued, he murdered the man.
The deceased R Sampathkumar was a native of Cheran Nagar in Mettupalayam. He stayed in a rented house at Vaiko Nagar in Kavundampalayam in the city along with the accused T Nagaraj, 24, of Palani in Dindigul district.
Both of them worked at a saloon near Saibaba Colony, KK Pudur and shared a house.
On Friday night, the two men consumed alcohol and later a quarrel broke out between them. Meanwhile, the house owner Dilipkumar, who stayed in the same locality, heard an unusal sound coming from their house and when he came to see what was going on between the two, Nagaraj come out and told him that Sampathkumar was unwell and sleeping. Dilipkumar then went back to sleep. Nagaraj had strangled his friend Sampathkumar using a towel.
The next morning, Nagaraj went back to the saloon to work. When Nagaraj came back home at night and raised an alarm, Sampathkumar was found dead. The house owner rushed in and was asked to call for an ambulance. The paramedics who arrived informed them that Sampathkumar was murdered. Thudiyalur police was immediately alerted and the body was sent to Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) for postmortem.
Dilipkumar told the police that he had not see Sampathkumar leave the house since the previous night. He also said that Nagaraj was the only one who stayed with the deceased. Immediately, he was taken into custody for questioning.
Nagaraj confessed and told the police that he murdered Sampathkumar as he did not want to have a sexual relationship with him. When he tried to avoid him, Sampathkumar harassed him further.
Police arrested Nagaraj and lodged him at Coimbatore central prison. Police said, Sampathkumar married Velumani, 26, near Pollachi six years ago and the couple had a five-year-old daughter. The couple separated after a misunderstanding.