Two murders, same trigger

Two men in their early 20s were murdered in separate incidents, both alleged fallouts of sexual harassment, on Monday.

Two men in their early 20s were murdered in separate incidents, both alleged fallouts of sexual harassment, on Monday.

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Twenty-three-year-old Sunil Sudawan was allegedly murdered in Govandi for having misbehaved with a woman. In the other incident that occurred in the western suburb of Goregaon 20-year-old Shabbir Khan was killed during a brawl with relatives of a person who had allegedly harassed his sister.

The police have arrested six persons for the Govandi murder and detained three persons in the Goregaon case.

The Govandi murder took place early on Monday morning. The deceased, Sudawan, had allegedly misbehaved with 33-year-old Ragi Patne late on Sunday night. Patne’s brothers, Kamlesh Sadamast (32), Sohan and Yogesh, and her husband, Anand, allegedly conspired to kill Sudawan to seek revenge.

Two of their friends, Nilesh Thakur (29) and Pradeep Somwanshi (30), also participated in the conspiracy.

On Monday morning, the accused asked Sudawan to meet them near a bridge. “There were eight to ten of them armed with swords, choppers and iron rods,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police, (Trombay division), Jalinder Khandagale. “As soon as Sudawan and his friend, Mahesh Pujari, arrived, they attacked them.”

Sudawan, who was stabbed, died on the spot. Pujari led the police to the accused.

The police said that the accused and the victim once lived in the same neighbourhood and Ragi had complained to her brothers about Sudawan’s misbehaviour in the past. They had even lodged a non-cognisable complaint with the Deonar police.

“Sudawan was a habitual offender with several cases of attempt to murder, assault and rioting against him,” said Khandagle.

In the other case, Shabbir Khan, a resident of Goregaon (East) was stabbed to death during a brawl. The police said, a couple of months ago, the brother of Gulzar, one of the accused, had allegedly misbehaved with Shabbir’s sister.

An angry Shabbir allegedly beat Gulzar’s brother with wooden sticks. A non-congnisable offence was lodged with the Dindoshi police.

On Monday evening, Shabbir and a few of his friends went to Gulzar’s locality and picked a fight with Gulzar and his friends.

Witnesses said one of the Gulzar’s friends stabbed Shabbir with a chopper.

Shabbir was taken to Bhagwati hospital but succumbed to his injuries. “We are recording the statements of the witnesses to know what exactly happened that day,” said Senior Police Inspector, V Kakade.