Many cricket supporters go to extreme lengths when it comes to backing their favorite teams and players. Some color their bodies in the team colors, and some don’t miss any match of their favorite star or team, however, some fans go to more extreme and dangerous levels to prove their point.
Something similar happened in Tamil Nadu when a 21-year-old Virat Kohli fan couldn’t take criticism of his favorite cricketer from his friend, who was a Rohit Sharma fan when the two drunkenly debated over who was the better cricketer and proceeded to fatally harm him.
The deceased identified as P Vignesh, 24, and the accused S Dharmaraj, both avid cricket fans, hail from Poyyur village in Ariyalur district. Vignesh, who had completed ITI, was awaiting a job visa to fly to Singapore, police said.
According to the Keelapalur police, Vignesh was a diehard Rohit Sharma fan and supported Mumbai Indians in the IPL and Dharamraj was a hardcore Virat Kohli fan and supported Royal Challengers Bangalore in the T20 tournament.
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The two were having a few drinks and discussing cricket in an open area near SIDCO Industrial Estate, near Mallur, on Tuesday night.
“Both had consumed liquor. As per the initial investigation, Vignesh was supporting Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League (IPL) while Dharmaraj was a Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) supporter,” police said.
During the debate, Vignesh said something untoward about Virat Kohli and RCB franchise and coupled with the fact that he also body-shamed Dharamraj and made fun of his stammering, the latter was enraged and attacked Vignesh with a liquor bottle and a cricket bat.
The police official further added: “During the course of their debate, Vignesh had allegedly mocked RCB and Virat Kohli. Vignesh had the habit of body shaming Dharmaraj, who was a stammerer. On that day he had made some remarks comparing the RCB team to the speaking difficulty of Dharmaraj. This infuriated Dharmaraj who attacked Vignesh with a bottle and later hit him with a cricket bat on the head. Dharmaraj soon fled the spot.”
A group of workers spotted Vignesh’s body in the morning who were on their way to the SIDCO factory, and they alerted the local police. The police sent Vignesh’s body to the government hospital in Ariyalur for autopsy. A case has been registered.
(Indian Express inputs)
