From correspondents in India, 02:00 AM IST

The parents and three others, including a sibling and servants of a 28-year-old man, were remanded to judicial custody Wednesday for allegedly beating him to death, the police said.

L. Srinivasan, 28, enamoured with a career in the film industry, reportedly physically tortured his parents and two sisters. He demanded Rs.200,000 to pay a film producer in order to land a key role, the family is said to have told a court here, police sources said.

'An attempt by my unpardonable criminal of a son to sexually molest his maternal aunt Monday in an inebriated condition was instrumental in forcing our hand to end his life,' the victim's father C. Lakshmanayya told a magistrate here, police sources added.

Srinivasan had been featured in a minor role in a Tamil movie that flopped last year.

The family is said to own properties worth Rs.25 million.

Situated 350 km southwest of state capital Chennai, Krishnagiri is a leftwing extremist infested district where over 20 middle-class landowners have been killed by Maoists during the last 25 years.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)