23-year-old convicted for 2016 assault, murder of traffic cop
The sessions court on Friday convicted a 23-year-old man for murder while hearing a case from 2016, in which the accused along with his minor teenaged brother had assaulted an on-duty traffic constable at a petrol pump in Khar (West). The constable, Vilas Shinde, 51, later succumbed to injuries sustained in the incident. The court is expected to announce the sentence today.
On Friday, the court found the arrested accused, Ahmed Ali Mohamad Ali Qureshi, 23, guilty of murder. Three eye-witnesses deposed in the case against Qureshi.
In 2016, on August 23, Shinde was posted near a petrol pump on SV Road. At around 3.15pm, he stopped a 17-year-old on a two-wheeler for not wearing a helmet. The teenager, Qureshi’s brother, made a phone call to Qureshi while Shinde was taking the two-wheeler to the side of the road. “Qureshi reached the spot and attacked the deceased Shinde with a bamboo stick on the head. After Shinde fell to the ground, Qureshi kicked him and pulled out the key [for the two-wheeler] from his pocket,” said Inspector Rajendra Kane, the investigating officer of the case. Qureshi and his brother allegedly continued to hit Shinde and after a point, fled with the two-wheeler from the spot.
Shinde suffered a severe fracture to his skull and was rushed to a hospital. He succumbed to his injuries on August 31, 2016.
Following Shinde’s demise, the then chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, had made the law against assault on government servant more stringent.
In October 2016, Khar Police filed a 700-page charge sheet. According to the police, statements of 50 to 60 witnesses were recorded in the charge sheet.
The trial against the minor accused is also underway at the sessions court and he is being tried as an adult with due permission of the juvenile court due to the seriousness of the crime.