3 held for killing friend for gold

The Manikpur police on Monday arrested three people for allegedly killing their friend, a month ago, for the Rs 3.5 lakh worth gold jewellery worn by him.

The Manikpur police on Monday arrested three people for allegedly killing their friend, a month ago, for the Rs 3.5 lakh worth gold jewellery worn by him.

HT Image

The police said Ashfaque Khan, Dharmendra Chavan and Azhar Sheikh were close friends of Chandrakant Gokhale, a trader. All are residents of Nalasopara.

On May 22, his body was found in a dry nullah on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad national highway. Gokhale was strangled to death and was found only in undergarments.

“After making enquiries with other police stations, on Monday we traced Gokhale’s relatives who had lodged a missing person’s complaint at Nalasopara police station. The relatives identified the deceased as Gokhale,” said an official.

The police found out that while leaving his home on the day of the incident he had informed his family that he was going out with friends.

The police first arrested Chavan from his home. He allegedly confessed that he along with Khan and Sheikh had murdered Gokhale for his jewellery.

“They took Gokhale to a road side hotel on the Mumbai- Ahmedabad highway. They stopped the car a little away from the hotel and two of them got down,” said assistant inspector K. Kolhe. The two returned with a thick rope, strangled Gokhale and removed his ornaments. They then dumped his body in the nullah and fled.