Mangaluru : The Mangaluru City police on Monday arrested five persons in connection with the murder of a 20 -year-old youth at a lodge in Mahaveer (Pumpwell) Circle in the city on Saturday.

City police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said that on the occasion of Dasara, a group of friends were having a party in a lodge near Pumpwell Circle. They had booked a room in a lodge on October 14. A compromise meeting regarding an old quarrel during the party ended up in a fight leading to the death of Dhanush, 20, a painter by profession and resident of Pachanady, in the wee hours of Saturday.

The arrested are Joyson, 21, a resident of Surathkal, Prameeth D, 24, of Jeppu Bappal, Karthik, 21, from Vamanjoor, Prajwal, 22, and Durgesh, 22, residents of Pachanady, the commissioner said.

Shashi Kumar said initially a fight broke out between Joyson and Dhanush. In a fit of rage, Dhanush was allegedly assaulted with a sharp weapon on his chest by Joyson. Dhanush, who sustained injuries, was rushed to a private hospital, where he was declared dead.

Of the five arrested, three have a criminal background with cases registered against them at various police stations in connection with rioting, assault, NDPS Act among others. While Prameeth has nine cases, Joyson and Karthik have two cases each at various police stations. None of them had a permanent job and did odd jobs for a living. They will be subjected to medical tests to ascertain whether they had consumed drugs when the incident occurred, he added.

Kankanady town police had registered a case under sections 143, 147, 148, 323, 302 and 149 of the IPC for murder and other charges.