Mumbai Crime: Shop owner bashed to death with stone in Dahisar

Deceased Ashok Mauriya

A 35-year-old pan shop owner from Bhayander was stoned to death by three robbers while trying to snatch his phone on the Western Express Highway (WEH) near Dahisar on Saturday night. The deceased, Ashok Mauriya was speaking to his wife while he was attacked.

"His wife could hear my brother screaming as he tried to escape from the robbers. They are trying to steal my phone, he kept shouting constantly," Vivek Mauriya, the cousin of the deceased said.

Mauriya, a resident of Kajupada area of Dahisar East, owned Omkar Pan Bhandar opposite Bhayander station.

On Saturday night, around midnight, after shutting his shop Mauriya left for home. He took a bus and got down at WEH and was walking towards his house. As he got off the bus, Mauriya received a call from his wife who was in Bhadohi district, Uttar Pradesh.

While Mauriya was busy speaking to her, he spotted three men following him. "The robbers spotted him under the upcoming Metro station near Dahisar and began chasing him. They looked like drug addicts, my brother told his wife," Vivek said.

Mauriya's wife told him to rush to the safest spot. However, seeing Mauriya increase his pace, the men started running behind him.

"As he ran towards the metro station being built on the highway, Mauriya tripped and fell. The men caught up with him, bashed his head in with a stone, snatched his phone, cash and fled the spot. Labourers spotted him lying in a pool of blood and alerted the Dahisar police," said a police source.

Mauriya's relatives reached the police station, after his wife informed them about the incident. It was after the relatives narrated the incident that police cops got to know how Mauriya died.
"Initially, we had registered an ADR (Accidental Death Report) and began the investigation, but post-mortem revealed the death was unnatural as he had severe head injuries. So, we then registered a murder case against the unknown accused and are investigating," Senior Inspector M M Mujawar said.

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