Mistaken for robber, man beaten to death in Mumbai

Police said that they were informed about the assault at 4am on Thursday and Pravin Lahane was found injured on the ground when a team rushed to the scene

A 26-year-old man was beaten to death in Mumbai’s Borivali East after being mistaken for a robber, police said, and added they arrested five people for the assault on Friday.

Lahane fell unconscious at Kasturba Marg Police Station. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“We arrested the five...for death due to rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, assault with a weapon, rioting, etc,” said deputy police commissioner (zone 12) Smita Patil.

Police said that they were informed about the assault at 4am on Thursday and found Pravin Lahane injured on the ground when a team rushed to the scene. Police said that they learnt a group of men assaulted him after mistaking him for a thief.

Lahane later fell unconscious at Kasturba Marg Police Station and was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead.

Police said Lahane was drunk when he entered a demolished building. “CCTV footage from the area shows him jumping across a boundary wall due to which the people there might have mistaken him for a robber and beat him,” said an officer, who did not want to be named.