Man kills two cousins over land dispute, arrested

All three used to stay in the same village, an officer from Shahapur police station said. He added that around 10 years ago, the victim’s father gave 15 guntha of his farmland to Somnath

Thane: A 30-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing two of his cousins over a land dispute in Shahapur on Monday.

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While the accused has been identified as Somnath Adhikari, the two brothers have been identified as Yogesh Adhikari, 35 and Pundalik Adhikari, 32.

All three used to stay in the same village, an officer from Shahapur police station said. He added that around 10 years ago, the victim’s father gave 15 guntha of his farmland to Somnath.

“Later, their father died due to some health issues. The Adhikari brothers, who initially didn’t have any problem, recently started pestering the accused to return the land. But, Somnath refused to return it, saying he had received the land as a gift from their father,” the police officer added.

The trio have been friends since childhood, and on Sunday night, they decided to have a party on their farmland, the police officer said. He added that during the party, the land issue cropped up, and the trio engaged in a fight over it. When the fight escalated, Somnath attacked the brothers with a sickle on their heads and killed them.

Rajkumar Upase, senior inspector, Shahapur police station, said, “Some local villagers informed us about the incident. Within an hour, we found the bodies of the victims in the farmland. We arrested the accused immediately from the village. There were two or three more friends accompanying the trio at the party, but their role is yet to be established. All are absconding for now and we have launched a search for them. The investigations are on.”