A Chinese man was found dead with many bruises on the face and an inside-out shirt and underwear in Huai Khwang district in Bangkok early Wednesday morning.
The body of the 61-year-old man was found beside an electric pole close to the Chai Kuai Tiaw Pla noodle shop at about 5am.
The body had on it an inside-out white-green striped shirt and a piece of blue underwear. Brown trousers were left nearby. The face showed many bruises while the arms and legs bore traces of being tied.
Khiaw Wadee, a 28-year-old Lao worker at a local cooking gas shop, alleged the Chinese man had entered the second-floor room where he and three other Lao workers stayed in the area. The Chinese man repeatedly shouted and he and his roommates forced him out of the room, he said.
He said the Chinese man then took off his trousers, re-entered the room and allegedly punched his face once. The Lao workers therefore caught the Chinese man, tied him to the electric pole at the mouth of their alley and called authorities.
Mr Khiaw said officials arrived and saw the Chinese man struggled to free himself before passing out. The man died before an ambulance arrived, the Lao worker said.
Pol Col Termphao Siriphubal, chief of the Sutthisan police station, said they would question the four Lao workers.
Police were checking the profile of the Chinese man with local Chinese associations and the embassy, he said.