Revealed: Why a Neighbor Assaulted a Middle-Aged Man in Cianjur, Resulting in His Death, Over the Theft of Two Chayote Squash

Two chayote squashes led to a middle-aged man losing his life. The man, identified by initials M and aged 56, a resident of Kampung Bayabang, Talaga Village, Cugenang District, Cianjur Regency, West Java, died after allegedly being assaulted by his neighbour. The attack occurred after the victim was believed to have taken two chayote squashes from a farm tended by the suspect.

According to the victim’s sister, Tita, the assault began at the request of their mother, who is 90 years old. The mother wanted the vegetables prepared for breaking their fast. “There were two labu siam taken by him. After that, the chayote was going to be cooked, but the mother didn’t want that; she wanted it as part of a dish,” the sister said, as quoted by TvOne News on Friday, 6 March 2026.

A day after the incident, the victim was found unconscious on a street. He was taken to Sayang Regional General Hospital in Cianjur, but he did not survive.

Meanwhile, according to Cianjur Police Chief AKBP Akhamd Alexander Yurikho, they received reports of an elderly man lying by the roadside on 2 March 2026. “We received a report of an elderly man, around 57 years old, lying by the roadside. We conducted follow-up actions and confirmed the identity as M,” he said.

Yurikho explained that when officers found him at the scene, the victim already had bruising. “External autopsy results confirmed that the injuries were due to assault. Following this, we launched an investigation,” he added.

After the autopsy procedure, investigators identified the perpetrator as the victim’s neighbour, identified by the initials UA. UA is said to have become enraged because the chayote on his land often disappeared. “Why did UA go so far as to commit violence that ended in death? Because UA believed that the elderly man M was the one stealing two chayote squashes to break his mother’s fast, who is around 90 years old. The suspect saw him as someone who had lately been frequent thefts of his chayote on the land he cultivated. He was angry and despised, and the chayotes he prepared for harvest were often taken. It was found that M had only taken two, which the suspect believed to be part of recent theft by the victim,” he said.