CHENNAI: In a tragic incident, a 27-year-old man belonging to the Narikuravar community reportedly shot his elder brother to death over a land dispute in Tirukazhukundram on Saturday.

The victim Venkatesan, 30, and his brother Chandran, were residents of the Narikuravar colony in MGR Nagar. Over 200 families live in the colony located at Kothimangalam where NGOs have built homes for free for the community members. The brothers who own stalls that sell beads on the roadside have lived in the same house with their spouses for the past 20 years.

Recently, Venkatesan approached his brother and requested to move out of the house into his own space as the house was getting crowded. Even after his elder brother offered two cents of land behind their current home along with some gold and cash, Chandran refused to move out. Over the past week, the duo had repeatedly quarrelled over the issue.

“On Saturday morning, Chandran, in an inebriated condition, came home and woke up his brother who was sleeping and got into an argument. It escalated and Chandran shot Venkatesan in the head with a rifle used to shoot birds,” police said.

The victim sustained grievous injuries and bled to death on the spot. Tirukazhukundram police arrested Chandran and confiscated the weapon after a wild goose chase for over three hours as the latter pretended to look among the bushes behind the house and took the police on a walk for over one kilometre. The frustrated cops threatened the accused with serious consequences following which he admitted that the gun was hidden in his neighbour’s house.