Thane: A heated argument on who was the best footballer in the world, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, led a Nigerian youth to allegedly murder his fellow national at Nalla Sopara in the neighbouring Palghar district, police said on Monday.


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The incident took place on Sunday morning. The victim, Obinna Duruchukwu, had celebrated his 34th birthday just a day before, police said.


Michael Chukwuma (24) has been arrested in this connection, they said.


"A group of Nigerians had gathered to celebrate Obinna's birthday at his room in Agarwal Nagari area in Nalla Sopara. The celebrations that started from Saturday night continued till the next morning," Inspector Prakash Birajdar of Tulinj police station said.


"On Sunday morning, Obinna and Michael were discussing about football players. One was a fan of Messi, the other of Ronaldo. During their argument on which one of the two footballers was a better player, Michael lost his temper and picked up a beer bottle and threw it at Obinna. The bottle did not hit the victim and broke into pieces," he said.


Fuming with rage, Michael then picked up a glass splinter and slit Obinna's throat. The attack was so severe that he died on the spot, the official said.


The body was later sent for post-mortem and a case under IPC section 302 (murder) was registered against Michael.


"The passport of the victim had expired in January, while that of the accused ended on Sunday, the day of incident," a police officer said.


Further investigation into the case is on.