2 killed in fight over phone call at funeral; man gets double life term

Chennai: The additional sessions court recently convicted a 24-year-old man of double murder and sentenced him to two life terms, to be served concurrently. The crime pertaining to the case transpired at the 16th-day funeral ceremony at Thiruvanmiyur on the night of April 30, 2022. The convict, Dinesh, refused to return a borrowed mobile phone and responded to humiliation with violence.
He had come to attend the ceremony with his friends. During the function, he borrowed a phone from a boy named Vasanthakumar to call his girlfriend, but failed to return it for more than two hours.
As the function wound down, the boy complained to his seniors. A group of men, including the slain men, Arun Kumar and Sathish Kumar, confronted Dinesh about the phone. Witnesses told the court that Dinesh became defiant. A verbal argument escalated when Arun hurled a slipper at Dinesh, causing sand from the footwear to spill onto Dinesh's plate of food. Enraged, Dinesh tried to attack them, but others pacified him.
An hour later, around 11pm, Dinesh returned to the scene armed with a fruit-cutting knife from his home. Arun, who was standing on a street corner, was the first target. Dinesh stabbed him in the abdomen, causing him to collapse.
In the commotion, as relatives lifted Arun onto a bike to take him to the hospital, Dinesh chased Sathish Kumar, and stabbed him repeatedly before fleeing toward the beach.
Both men died shortly after — Arun at Govt Royapettah Hospital and Sathish at Malar Hospital. Multiple witnesses testified to the sequence of events. Forensic reports confirmed the injuries, and the murder weapon was recovered the next day based on Dinesh's confession near Ashtalakshmi Temple.
On April 15 this year, the additional sessions court convicted Dinesh of double murder and sentenced him to two life terms.