Two disputes, two bites, two fingers gone in Kochi

KOCHI: Two separate fights in Ernakulam district took an unusually painful turn, with two men losing fingers to bites in incidents reported from Eloor and Ernakulam North.

At Pathalam in Eloor, a dispute over collecting water from a public tap ended with an inter-state migrant allegedly biting off the right thumb of Kacheri House resident Saleem on Thursday night.
The incident happened around 8 pm when an argument broke out near the public tap between the inter-state migrant and Saleem’s daughter-in-law who had come to collect water. Saleem reportedly rushed to the spot after hearing the commotion and tried to intervene when he was attacked.
His severed thumb was later found a short distance away. Saleem was initially taken to Kalamassery Medical College Hospital and later shifted to Medical Mission Hospital, Kolenchery, for specialised treatment. Doctors are attempting to reattach the finger through surgery.

As if one such incident was not unusual enough, another finger-biting episode was reported from a lodge in Ernakulam North the same night.
Around midnight, a dispute over a power outage allegedly ended with lodge operator Benjo Baby biting off the index finger of M. Abhilash, a native of Kattakkada in Thiruvananthapuram.

Abhilash also suffered a fracture to the little finger of his right hand after being hit with a weapon. In the ensuing scuffle, a front tooth of the lodge operator was knocked out after Abhilash allegedly punched him.
North police have registered a case against Benjo Baby, who is absconding. Abhilash has been taken into custody following a complaint filed by the lodge owner.
Benjo Baby is the husband of the complainant in a case in which then-North SI Prathapachandran was accused of slapping a pregnant woman.