Man, 2 aides kill elder brother over business issues, arrested

Kopar police on Friday arrested a man, along with his two employees for allegedly killing his elder brother over business clashes on June 2. The accused then tried

Kopar police on Friday arrested a man, along with his two employees for allegedly killing his elder brother over business clashes on June 2. The accused then tried to pass it off as an accident.

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All three accused attacked Mahesh Chawla, 48, with heavy iron object and placed his body at a well-known supermarket owned by the family. They claimed that the man accidentally fell off a seven-feet ladder and died. During the post-mortem, Kopri police officers found this suspicious and investigated the matter.

According to police officials, the accused Anil Chawla, 45 (victim’s younger brother) had expanded their small shop into a big supermarket and were operating it for many years.

On June 2, the Kopri police received a call at around 7.30pm about Mahesh Chawla’s fall and his subsequent death. Since it was an accident, the police sent the body for the post-mortem.

Kopri police station, crime police inspector, D Gawde said there were many discrepancies in the family’s statement. He said, “According to family and the younger brother, the incident happened around 3pm and police were informed late. Moreover, they took him to the hospital at 5pm, which was much later than the fall. The doctor who conducted the post-mortem said that there were many brutal injures on the head.”

The police immediately started an investigation and questioned the other two men involved who were identified as Abhay Agnihotri, 20, and Shobit Singh, 19. The duo confessed that together with Anil Chawla, they carried out Mahesh Chawla’s murder by hitting him with an iron stool and other equipment, at some other place after which they brought him to the shop and tried to pass it as an accident.

Gawde further added, “We are yet to get details about the reason behind the murder as we arrested the accused late on July 3. As per the employees, they had some business-related issues. We have arrested all three accused in the case.”

The three have being remanded to police custody for five days.