Men deny beating death was planned

Suspects are charged with concealing information in the Indian worker's brutal slaying.

DUBAI // Ten men who allegedly beat an Indian worker to death with wooden sticks and iron bars denied in court yesterday that the crime was premeditated.

Of the murder suspects - seven of whom were from India, two from Pakistan and one from Bangladesh - one was also charged with consuming alcohol and three others with not working for their sponsors.

Five additional suspects, all Indian, were charged with concealing information about the crime from authorities.

An Emirati policeman told prosecutors that authorities received a report about a dead man being found in Jumeirah Village. When they arrived, they found the body of A K with signs that he had been hit on the head.

Investigating officers found a shoe sole under a car in the area, which a police dog identified as belonging to the Indian, B S, 45.

B S, who initially denied having any information, later confessed that he and four other men had witnessed a fight over the sale of alcohol.

B S told officers that a man was being beaten on the head with iron bars during the brawl and that his body was later moved to a nearby landfill.

Another officer told prosecutors that investigations revealed the body had been dragged about 30 metres, based on traces of blood on the ground.

He said that police began to suspect security officials at the site, one of whom later said that a fight had taken place between two groups of men over alcohol selling rights.

The guard said the fight took place in front of his room and that when one of the men fell during the fight, the others proceeded to beat him up.

The guard also said that one of the attackers continued to beat A K after the others had stopped. Police later detained that man at the airport as he attempted to flee the country.

A third policeman said some of the men involved in the melee were armed with wooden and iron sticks and, when the group of combatants that A K belonged to began to lose the scuffle, they fled, leaving A K, who had fallen because he had been drinking.

The case has been adjourned to November 11.