Chennai: A teenager in Tamil Nadu whose left hand was chopped off by a man from his village for sitting crosslegged is recovering in hospital, police said Friday.

"The boy is recovering after undergoing an amputation operation. We did recover the severed hand but the doctors said it was too late to stitch it back," a police officer told IANS.

The main accused Krishnan, husband of panchayat president Devi, and his associates Kannan and Kumar did this mainly to create fear for themselves among the villagers in Siruvanoor.

The village is in Virudhunagar district around 500 km from here.

The reported provocation for the attack was that Karthik, a construction worker, was sitting crosslegged and did not stand up on seeing Krishnan.

An argument ensued between Krishnan and Karthik.

On Tuesday night the three pulled Karthik out of a bus in which he was going to Madurai and chopped off his hand.