08 June,2015 01:05 PM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
Locals took revenge on Anil Pandey a member of the Kumar Pillai gang after he refused to return a cricket ball which his dog had picked up, and subsequently had another quarrel with the group
A 30-year-old member of the Kumar Pillai gang has been murdered by several local youth, after an argument over his pet dog. Over ten people barged into Anil Pandey's house in Bhandup in the wee hours of Sunday and killed the gangster by stabbing him with knives and swords around ten hours after the argument over the dog.
The crime branch, along with the Bhandup police, has arrested Sameer Chavan (21), Gautam Ghadge (25), Sagar Gawas (24), Ravi Ware (22) and Sameer Kadam (26). Seven other accused (names not released by the police) in the case are said to be on the run and the cops are trying to trace them.
According to the cops, the deceased has been identified as Anil Pandey, a member of the Kumar Pillai gang. Pandey was a history-sheeter, and had several cases filed against him pertaining to assault and murder. He resided in the Durga Mata chawl in Ramnagar, near Tembipada at Bhandup (West), along with his wife Priya, two daughters and a friend.
According to police officials, on Saturday early evening, Pandey had gone out for a walk with his pet dog. Later he reached near the jungle area close to Powai, where several of the accused in the case were playing cricket in a huge open ground. Apparently, Pandey's dog picked up the ball and the gangster refused to take it away from his pet.
Pandey also challenged the group, telling them that they did not have the guts to take the ball away from him. Later in the night, Pandey had apparently stepped out of his house completely drunk and again picked up a quarrel with the same youths who were playing cricket earlier. This angered them, and they decided to take revenge and teach Pandey a lesson.
After gathering weapons like swords, knives and sickles, the accused stormed Pandey's house in the wee hours of Sunday and stabbed him repeatedly. Pandey was rushed to a local hospital where he was declared dead. Police add that Vijay Babbar, Pandey's friend, who was also injured in the attack, is now recovering at Sion Hospital.
