Thane, Jul 2 (IANS): In a shocking incident, at least three youths allegedly pushed their friend - who had hosted his birthday bash - from the fourth floor of a building after a brawl over beer and liquor at Ulhasnagar town in Thane district, the police said on Tuesday.

The victim, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, fell to his instant death, while his friends panicked and ran away. However, after a sustained investigation, the police have managed to arrest the accused trio.

“The accused have been remanded to police custody till July 3 by a court. Further investigation is underway,” Anil Padwal, Inspector of Vitthalwadi police station, told IANS.

The deceased has been identified as Karthik Vayal, while the accused trio has been identified as Dheeraj Yadav (23), Nilesh Kshirsagar (23), and Sagar Kale (24), Padwal said.

The probe revealed that Karthik had invited his close friends for his birthday bash on the evening of June 27 at Nilesh's house on the fourth floor of Arya Apartments in the Chinchpada area of Ulhasnagar.

As the party progressed, there were some arguments over beer and drinks, which soon degenerated into kicks and fisticuffs, in which Karthik reportedly hit Nilesh with a bottle on the head.

Enraged by this, the others pounced on Karthik, brutally thrashing the birthday boy before allegedly flinging him outside the fourth-floor flat, resulting in his instant death.

Panicking, the friends quickly fled from the flat and kept low for some time, till the police confronted them.

Initially, they maintained that they had taken the injured Nilesh to a hospital, and upon their return, they found Karthik lying dead in the building compound.

However, after the deceased's family raised questions over their claims and even suspected their possible involvement in Karthik’s death, the police lodged a murder case.

Armed with other evidence and eyewitness accounts, the police arrested the accused trio on Sunday.