Coimbatore: A pavement dweller was found brutally murdered near Peelamedu in the city, after an unidentified assailant smashed his head with a stone while he was sleeping on the roadside on Saturday night.The deceased was later identified as S Ranganathan, 56, of Thanneerpandal in Peelamedu. He used to work as an electrician. Police said he had been living away from his family for the past 12 years and frequently took shelter on the streets. On Saturday night, he was sleeping on Telecom 3rd Street near Thanneerpandal.The crime came to light early on Sunday morning when a passersby found a body lying in a pool of blood on the road and alerted the Peelamedu police. Police officers and forensic experts subsequently recovered a large blood-stained stone near the victim’s head, confirming that he had been bludgeoned to death. Police have sent the body to the ESI Hospital for a postmortem. Meanwhile, a murder case has been registered and a manhunt launched for the perpetrator. Police have collected fingerprints from the scene and are analysing CCTV camera footage from the area.
