Man arrested for killing relative over trivial row

A 36-year-old labourer was allegedly bludgeoned to death by his employer, who is also a distant relative, in Ulllal Upanagara in Jnana Bharati police station limits in the early hours of Tuesday.

The deceased has been identified as Avinash and the police arrested the accused, identified as Karthik.

According to the police, Avinash used to work in an eatery run by Karthik and his mother. Avinash stayed in a house adjacent to the accused's home. The police said that Avinash was reportedly an alcoholic, due to which his wife and children had left him. He couldn’t stay at one job because of his alcoholism and kept doing odd jobs for a living.

On Monday night, Avinash allegedly created a ruckus and hurled abuses at Karthik’s mother in an inebriated state. She immediately informed Karthik, who was out at work. Karthik rushed home and, in a bit of rage, allegedly assaulted Avinash with an iron rod. Avinash reportedly died of excessive bleeding, the police said.

Though Karthik tried to administer first aid to revive him, it was in vain. Neighbours, who noticed the commotion, alerted the police.