E-Paper
Man accused of attempted murder gets nabbed on his visit to family
The accused, Sunil Bhandari (35), was involved in a deadly assault on Dombivali resident Hemant Bhoir (43).
After spending over two years on the run, a man accused of attempting murder was finally nabbed by the police straight in his attempt to see his family, officials said.
According to the Vishnu Nagar police, the accused, identified as Sunil Bhandari (35), was involved in a deadly assault on Dombivali resident Hemant Bhoir (43), his brother Milind (42) and their friend Pramod Patil (39) in March 2019. The trio was on their way home after attending a pre-wedding ceremony of ‘haldi’ when Bhandari and eight others accosted them.
“The victims and the accused had a long-standing dispute over a land deal gone sour. Both the parties were present in the ‘haldi’ ceremony where one of them had bumped into the other while dancing, which also led to a fresh quarrel. Subsequently, the accused lay in wait for the victims and attacked them with swords, sticks and a country-made pistol,” police inspector Rahul Khilare, Vishnu Nagar police station, Dombivli, Maharashtra, said.
The assault was so serious in nature that Milind lost both his hands from the elbows downwards after the accused allegedly chopped them off with swords. He spent several days in a serious condition in the hospital but ultimately survived. Meanwhile, the Vishnu Nagar police registered a complaint of attempt-to-murder against the accused and arrested seven of them, while two remained at large.
“Since the case was registered, we made repeated inquiries with Bhandari’s family, friends and associates. We also tried tracking his cell phone location but he had switched off his phone as soon as the crime was committed and there was no sign of him,” Khilare said.
Over the next two and a half years, the investigating team, through repeated visits to the Devicha Pada area in Dombivli where Bhandari stayed, cultivated several informants based around his house. All of these were given a single task - to inform the police as soon as Bhandari was seen.
The police’s efforts finally paid off in the last week of August when Bhandari came to meet his wife, aged parents and young son. He would later tell the police in his interrogation that he was unable to stay away from them any longer. Unknown to him, this was exactly what the police were banking on.
As soon as they received the tip-off about Bhandari being seen in his area, the police sent a team to his residence and picked him up on August 24. After inquiries confirmed his involvement in the case, he was placed under arrest and was charged for an attempt to murder under the Indian Penal Code, officers said.
“A chargesheet has already been filed against the seven accused arrested earlier and we will file one against Bhandari soon. Efforts are underway to trace and apprehend the last remaining accused in the case,” Khilare said.
