Maharashtra: Rickshaw driver kills cousin; arrested

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An autorickshaw driver allegedly killed his 32-year-old cousin after the latter kept demanding money from him in an inebriated condition in Raigad district of Maharashtra, police said on Saturday, reported news agency PTI.

The incident occurred at Chikhale village near Panvel on Friday morning and the accused, Bharat Pandurang Patil (42), was arrested hours later, they said, reported PTI.

"When the accused was driving his autorickshaw, the victim Anand Dhanaji Patil waylaid him. He was in an inebriated condition and demanded money from the accused to drink liquor. Annoyed with his demand, the accused attacked him with a chopper, in which the victim died on the spot," an official of Panvel Taluka police station said, reported PTI.

There was a long-running dispute between the two cousins over some issue, he said, reported PTI.

The victim's body was later sent to a government-run hospital for post-mortem, the official said, adding that a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (murder) was registered and the accused was arrested at night, reported PTI.

In another case, a 50-year-old tax consultant from Maharashtra's Thane district lost more than Rs 11 lakh in a 'task fraud' wherein three cyber fraudsters, including two women, duped him under the pretext of providing part-time online jobs, police said, reported PTI.

Based on the complaint lodged by the victim, a resident of Rambaug area of Kalyan, a case was registered at the Mahatma Phule Chowk police station under provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act, they said, reported PTI.

"The accused were identified as Priya Sharma, Devi and Bharat. While Priya posed as a representative of an international advertisement company and called the victim from an overseas number, the other two contacted him through a social messaging application," an official said, reported PTI.

On December 11, the trio offered money for completing certain online tasks of giving positive reviews. Initially, they paid a few hundred rupees to him and later asked him to join some groups on Telegram app. They asked him to pay Rs 11,31,200, assuring him of good returns, he said, reported PTI.

However, when he sought returns from them, they started giving evasive replies. He realised that he has been duped, following which he approached the police and filed the complaint, he said, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)