Four, including two minors, arrested for killing ST driver in Nandurbar

The arrested accused – identified as Nilesh Bachchu Patil, 25, Lucky Kishore Birare, 19, and two minor boys aged 16 years and 17 years – told the police that Govind Suresh Sonar, 35, son-in-law of the deceased Rajendra Marathe, had paid them ₹3 lakh to kill him, said police officials

MUMBAI: The Mumbai crime branch on Monday arrested four absconding accused including two minors who were hiding in Gorai after allegedly killing a 53-year-old man and burning his body near a bridge along Nandarde-Taloda Road in Nandurbar district. The arrested accused – identified as Nilesh Bachchu Patil, 25, Lucky Kishore Birare, 19, and two minor boys aged 16 years and 17 years – told the police that Govind Suresh Sonar, 35, son-in-law of the deceased Rajendra Marathe, had paid them ₹3 lakh to kill him, said police officials.

Four, including two minors, arrested for killing ST driver in Nandurbar

Marathe, a driver with the state transport department, lived in Sadashiv Nagar, Shahada taluka in Nandurbar district with his wife and son. According to the police, on March 14, his wife Minaxi Marathe, 50, registered a missing person complaint at the Shahada police station, saying her husband did not return home after leaving for the market to buy household things that morning. On March 16, police found a partially burnt dead body near a bridge on Nandarde-Taloda Road, which the deceased’s son Paradyumna Marathe identified as that of his father.

Subsequently, police registered a murder case against unknown accused based on a complaint by Marathe’s daughter Bhavana Sarode, 31, and initiated a search for the accused. Meanwhile, the Mumbai crime branch received a tip-off that four persons who had killed Marathe in Nandurbar had come to Mumbai and were hiding in the Gorai area.

Police inspector Bharat Ghone of unit 11 and his team laid a trap and arrested the four accused. During interrogation, they claimed that Sonar and his wife (Marathe’s daughter), who had a love marriage a few years ago, quarrelled frequently and Marathe interfered between them often; at times, he even threatened Sonar. A few months ago, Marathe’s daughter returned to her father’s place following a fight with Sonar, which angered the latter and he decided to take revenge, the accused said. Sonar contacted Patil thereafter, gave him some advance and agreed to pay him ₹3 lakh for killing his father-in-law.

The police have recovered ₹45,000 cash from the accused. They had also shot a video while burning the deceased, so they could show Sonar that they had killed his father-in-law, said a police officer. The video was found in one of the accused’s phones, the officer added.