Man beats girlfriend to death on busy road as passersby watch, make videos

Man arrested for killing girlfriend with spanner in broad daylight in Vasai East. Accused suspected her of cheating. Arrested on the spot by police.

The Waliv police have arrested a 29-year-old man for allegedly killing his 22-year-old girlfriend by clobbering her repeatedly with a spanner on a busy road in Vasai East on Tuesday morning. Although several people watched the brutal attack, no one tried to rescue the woman, according to the police.

The incident took place around 9.30am in Chinchpada, Vasai East. The accused, identified as Rohit Yadav, was following his girlfriend, Aarti Yadav, to work when he intercepted her and started assaulting her with a heavy spanner in the middle of the road. He continued battering her with the tool until she collapsed and lay motionless in a pool of blood, even as passersby watched and shot videos of the attack, said the police. By the time the police arrived, Aarti was dead, and Rohit was found sitting on the side of the road next to her body.

According to the police, Rohit and Aarti, both residents of Nalasopara, were in a relationship for the past six years. Aarti used to work in a factory in Vasai East. Rohit, who is unemployed, got upset after seeing her talking to her male colleagues and suspected she was cheating on him. The couple often fought over the matter, the police said.

Aarti’s father also knew about their relationship and disapproved of it. After her father refused to allow her to marry Rohit, Aarti started ignoring his calls, which did not go down well with him, the police added.

On Tuesday morning, when Aarti left for work, Rohit followed her. When she reached Chinchpada, he intercepted her. The two started quarrelling and Rohit got agitated and took out a spanner that he was carrying. He grabbed Aarti’s hand and started hitting her with the metal tool till she collapsed, the police said.

Even after she collapsed and lay motionless on the road, Rohit continued shouting her name in rage and hitting her. Someone called the police only after Rohit stopped the brutal assault.

The Waliv police said they reached the spot within five minutes of being informed about the attack. They found Rohit sitting on the road, staring at Aarti’s body. “We arrested Yadav from the spot and recovered the spanner, which he threw on the road. We have seized a few videos and photographs shot by the onlookers and are looking for more witnesses,” said a police officer from the Waliv police station.

Rohit has been booked under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. “He told us that he was planning to confront her. However, we suspect that Yadav was planning to kill her as he was carrying the spanner and a knife in his pocket when he met her,” added the officer.