Badlapur station murder: Former corporator’s brother hired hitmen to kill techie
A financial dispute led to a botched contract killing attempt on an IT professional in Thane, causing panic at a railway station
THANE: On September 5 at around 4 pm, terrified people on a Badlapur railway platform ran helter-skelter to escape the bullets suddenly fired by a man. The police had revealed after investigations that the firing was on account of a financial dispute among a few sharpshooters who had accepted a contract to kill someone. It now emerges that the intended victim was a 35-year-old IT professional, who got into a scrap with a former corporator.
The IT professional, who is from Bangalore, lived in Mumbai with his family. The altercation that he had with Amar Patil, a former corporator of Diva, and his brother was over a trivial dispute—who would get to stand on the footboard of a train compartment. During the confrontation, Patil allegedly called his followers to assault the IT professional, who, in self-defence, allegedly struck the politician with a wooden stick. In retaliation, Patil filed a police complaint against him.
The situation escalated later when Patil’s brother allegedly hired contract killers to eliminate the IT professional. However, a dispute among the killers over the sharing of the blood money led to one of them shooting at another at Badlapur railway station.
Recent police investigations have revealed the details of these events, leading to a case being registered against Patil’s brother at the Mumbra police station last week. The IT professional, meanwhile, remains under threat and is desperately seeking protection for himself and his family.
When did it all begin?
On August 31, Patil, 41, a corporator of Diva Ward No 27 of the Thane municipal corporation and a current Shiv Sena youth party worker, was travelling by train from Thane to Diva. Between Mumbra and Diva stations, he had a verbal altercation with the IT professional, over standing in the footboard area of the train.
According to the FIR filed by Patil with the Thane Government Railway Police (GRP), the IT professional assaulted him with a wooden rod after they both got down from the train. The police then arrested the IT professional and initially placed in police custody. After a day, the court remanded him to judicial custody, and he was sent to Adharwadi Jail.
However, other sources reported a different sequence of events. Allegedly Patil called several of his supporters to the platform to confront the IT pro, leading to a physical altercation. In response, the latter reportedly found a wooden rod and struck Patil on the head in self-defence. Patil then summoned more supporters, escalating the chaos. The Thane GRP then arrested the IT pro for attacking Patil.
Contract Killers
The Kalyan GRP later registered a case against seven people who are contract killers and habitual criminals. According to Pramod Chavan of the Maharashtra Security Force, a quarrel between four individuals turned violent when one of them, Vikas Nana Pagare, allegedly fired two rounds from a pistol. Pagare’s associates—Atish Rokde, Shankar Sansare, and Rohit Dhotre—overpowered him and fled the scene. Pagare was apprehended by security personnel after a chase on the railway tracks.
Investigators revealed that the gang had been hired by Abid Sheikh of Ulhasnagar and supplied weapons by Santosh Mohite and Vicky Ujjainwal. The police have filed charges against them for illegal possession of firearms, public endangerment, and violation of the weapon prohibition order. The Kalyan GRP arrested six accused in the case.
“During the investigation, to verify the accused’s claims, we checked CCTV footage and their CDR locations, which revealed that they were tracking a man’s movements to locate and kill him,” said a police officer. “The accused mentioned that Kedarnath Vishnu Patil, the brother of former Diva corporator Patil, had provided them with the target details via one of the accused Abid Shaikh from Ulhasnagar. The plan was to kill the IT professional after he got bail, and the gang laid a trap based on his location. However, he wore a mask so they could not identify him. To investigate further, we issued summons to him several times.”
The IT professional, thinking that the summons were related to his previous case, initially refused to meet the police. After the third summons and consulting a lawyer, he met the Kalyan GRP and learned about the plot to kill him. Upon hearing the name of the person who had issued the contract, he immediately recognised the connection to the corporator.
The Kalyan GRP has filed an FIR against Kedarnath Vishnu Patil under BNS 61 and 351 for criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation. The case has been transferred to Mumbra Police Station, in whose jurisdiction the conspiracy was planned and the investigation will soon begin. Meanwhile, the IT pro remains under threat due to political pressure in the area and has relocated his family. His close friends have expressed concern, stating that if the accused are willing to arrange a contract killing for such trifling reasons, it is imperative that the police take swift action.
When HT contacted Amar Patil about the allegations against him and his brother, he said he had “moved on”. “I have a family, and being from a political background, I don’t hold grudges,” he said. “I am unaware of what my brother has done. We have separate responsibilities and do not interfere in each other’s work.”