Man who ‘instigated’ friend to set his partner’s daughter afire granted bail

A sessions court in Mumbai granted bail to one of the co-accused in the case of a 20-year-old girl who was set ablaze by her mother's partner. The accused, Nandkishor Patel, and the co-accused Abdul Shaikh, are friends. Shaikh is suspected of instigating the incident but denies involvement.

MUMBAI: The sessions court on Thursday granted bail to one of the co-accused in the case of a 20-year-old girl in Dharavi who was set ablaze by her mother’s 41-year-old live-in partner in May 2023.

HT Image

The accused, Nandkishor Patel, 41, and the co-accused Abdul Shaikh alias Munna are friends. Munna allegedly had a grudge against Patel’s wife, Kajal Jaiswar, who allegedly informed Munna’s wife about the elopement of their daughter. Munna allegedly desired to avenge this embarrassment.

Principal district judge A Subramaniam noted that there seemed no involvement of Munna in the actual incident of burning, except suspicion of instigation. “Even in the video recording there is alleged contention of Munna instigating Patel (main accused),” stated the court order.

Advocate Abdul Raheem Bukhari, appearing for Munna, vehemently submitted that Munna was never present at the incident spot and further said that he has been falsely implicated, considering that he is not named initially but subsequently implicated, as an afterthought, because of alleged enmity and suspicion only.

Additional public prosecutor S E Soshte strongly objected to the bail application on the grounds that Munna is the main instigator and is seen to have staged the entire incident, along with instigating Patel.

According to the prosecution, Patel was in a relationship with Jaiswar for nine years.

Kajal and Patel are both natives of Uttar Pradesh and had met when Kajal was married to another man. After Kajal separated from her husband, they decided to move to Dharavi along with Kajal’s daughter, the victim, Mohini.

However, with recurring fights between them about Kajal’s late-night work, the mother-daughter duo decided to move out of the house and live separately in the same area. On the day of the incident, Mohini returned home late at night and was alone in the house while Kajal was still at work. When Mohini came outside the house around 2am to collect a food parcel, Patel spotted her and got angry. He immediately fetched a bottle of turpentine, poured it over Mohini, and set her on fire.

There was chaos, and the neighbours woke up and rushed to help Mohini trying to douse the fire. When Kajal returned after some time, she saw her daughter lying on the floor, unconscious, with burns all over her body. Kajal, with the help of the neighbours rushed Mohini to Sion hospital.

Mohini acquired 50% burns with major injuries on her chest, arms, and face. Before succumbing to her injuries five days later, Mohini alleged that along with Patel and Munna, Munna’s minor son was also involved in the incident.

The court ordered the applicant Abdul Shaikh to stay outside the local limits of Dharavi and further directed him to furnish a PR Bond of ₹50,000 with one to three sureties for the said amount.

Munna was booked under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), and 109 (punishment for abetment) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.