Man killed over gambling spoils in Salem

SALEM: In a shocking incident, a tender coconut seller was gruesomely done to death near the banks of a river late on Sunday night, allegedly in a fracas over sharing the spoils in a gambling game played with marbles. 

Police said 31-year-old Gopal, who deals in tender coconuts had left home on Sunday afternoon, but did not return till late in the evening. However, around 7 pm, Gopal was found dead in a grotesque manner with his head crushed apparently by a stone inside a hut on the banks of Sarabanga river, police said. 

Preliminary investigations revealed that Gopal during weekends had the habit of joining a group of people to play a game of marbles with money stakes. Similarly on Sunday as he was playing the game, some of his friends had picked up a fight with him over “sharing the money”.

In the melee, his friends allegedly smashed Gopal's head with a stone and fled the place, police said.