Fight between friends in Nalasopara leaves one dead, two critical

The trio – students of Viva College in Virar East – were friends for several years and stayed in the same neighbourhood of Shirdi Nagar in Nalasopara East

Mumbai: Three friends, who went to a tea stall in Nalasopara East on Wednesday, ended up having an ugly fight which left one of them dead, while the other two were grievously injured. According to the police, the reason behind the fight is not yet known as there were no eyewitnesses because the alleged incident took place inside the tea stall when its shutter was closed.

The police have registered a case of murder but are yet to piece together the sequence of events that lead to the death of Tiwari. “Since the shutter of the shop was down, none had seen what transpired inside and how the young men ended up fighting. Only after Dubey slipped out through the back door opening, did the incident come to light. The two who survived are critical and not in a position to talk,” added Sarode. (HT PHOTO)

The deceased has been identified as Raunak Tiwari, 20, while the two injured persons have been identified as Shivam Dubey, 19, the tea stall owner and Kishan Jha. The trio – students of Viva College in Virar East – were friends for several years and stayed in the same neighbourhood of Shirdi Nagar in Nalasopara East.

“The incident came to light at 5pm on Wednesday when Dubey managed to open the shutter of the stall and come out, severely injured and staggering. He gestured to the passersby towards the partly closed shutter and fell unconscious,” said Chandrakant Sarode of Achole Police Station.

Sarode said when locals opened the shutter of the stall, they found two men severely injured. The locals then informed the police, who reached the spot and rushed the trio to different hospitals in the vicinity.

“Tiwari was declared dead on arrival at the City Hospital in Vasai East,” said Sarode. “Jha is reported to be in a state of coma and Dubey has been admitted to the ICU of another hospital and is said to be critical.”

He added that on inspecting the spot, they found that the pipe of the LPG cylinder had been pulled out and there was gas leakage inside the closed space. “We immediately called the fire brigade and stopped the gas leakage,” added Sarode.

The police have registered a case of murder but are yet to piece together the sequence of events that lead to the death of Tiwari. “Since the shutter of the shop was down, none had seen what transpired inside and how the young men ended up fighting. Only after Dubey slipped out through the back door opening, did the incident come to light. The two who survived are critical and not in a position to talk,” added Sarode.

After studying the injury marks on the bodies of the deceased and the injured, Sarode said that the weapon used by the men to assault each other appears to be the pipe connected to the gas cylinder. “Tiwari must have been hit on his head or could be his head was banged on the wall by the others for him to have suffered head injuries leading to his death. The gas leakage also might have taken a toll on the men and left them suffocating. We are awaiting the postmortem report of Tiwari to find out whether he died of asphyxiation or because of the assault,” said Sarode.

One of the locals, Nitin Yadav, 42, an estate agent, said that he was drinking tea nearby when he heard loud noises and a few moments later saw an injured man crawling out of the stall. “He just pointed out towards the shutter and then fell. He was injured and therefore we panicked and immediately dialled the police emergency number,100,” said Yadav.