12 February,2009 09:31 AM IST | | Ketan Ranga
In a chilling replay of the stoneman murders of the 80s, three people in the area have been killed with stones in January
The film
Stoneman Murders' is based on the serial
killings that terrorised Mumbai from 1985
to 1987 and remain unsolved till date.u00a0
Even as the movie Stoneman Murders, starring Kay Kay Menon and Arbaaz Khan, is set to release tomorrow, the story is playing out in reality in Navi Mumbai. In January, three people -- one unidentified man and one woman and her son -- were killed brutally with stones. In all three cases the victims were hit on their heads.
The police are sure that the woman and her son were killed by the same person, but are unsure if the same person is responsible for the first murder as well. They said it was too early to conclude if a serial killer was on the loose.
According to B D Sonavane, senior police inspector, Turbhe police station, "The modus operandi of the three murders indicate that the killings were carried out by the same person. But it is too early to say that the person is a serial killer."
Case 1
The first victim was found murdered near the Sanpada station bridge with a head injury on the morning of January 14. The man was murdered with a stone, which was found near his body. According to the police, the stone weighed around 3 kg.
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Case 2
On the early morning of January 29, the police found the body of Vijayanta Gaikawad and her injured son Mukund. Both had been hit with a stone on their heads while they were sleeping near the flyover in the Pahune village area of Turbhe. Mukund, who was in a coma, later succumbed to the injuries.
The two of them had been living near the flyover with other labourers and workers, as Mukund was a drunkard and his two sisters and brothers-in-law did not allow him to stay with them.
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The police have taken the statements of the people sleeping near the Gaikwads, but none of them heard the victims screaming or saw any person. In the first case, the police claim they have an eyewitness. They are trying to trace the accused.