Mumbai crime: Two auto-drivers held for beating colleague to death

This picture has been used for representational purposes.

The Borivali police arrested two auto-drivers on Wednesday for assaulting their colleague to death with a rod over a petty issue of parking at the auto stand to ply passengers last week. The auto driver, identified as Shafique Khan alias Bablu (30) was grievously injured when he was admitted to the ICU of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital in Kandivali on Wednesday but later succumbed to his injuries during the treatment. The accused, identified as Prakash alias Pakya Shinde (30) and Sunil Bhosle (32), who were hiding in Usmanabad after committing the crime was caught by the Borivali police and brought back to the city on Wednesday.

According to the police sources, the incident happened on last Friday evening at an auto stand near Sailee College, where the accused and the deceased ply passengers in share auto-rickshaws from Gorai to Borivli station. On the day of the incident, when Khan was to park first on the stand, Bhosle cut in and parked his auto in front of him. After it escalated to an argument, Shinde intervened and took Khan a few metres away from the stand, putting his hand on his shoulder. Bhosle then came behind and hit Khan's head with the iron rod. Later, Shinde also joined Bhosle and began assaulting Khan. When another auto driver, Dayashankar Yadav tried to help Khan, Shinde and Bhosle chased him with the rod and attacked him, but he had escaped from the spot.

Yadav, who turn eye-witness in the case, said that the accused assaulted Khan with rod and later fled the scene. "We rushed the spot and took Khan to the Sailee hospital. As his condition was critical, the doctors referred him to Shatabdi hospital."

Bhosle, hailing from Jalna, was living in Usmanabad and working in a hotel. Shinde befriended Bhosle after meeting him in Usmanabad when the former visited the district in 2004. Since then whenever Bhosle visited Mumbai, he would stay with Shinde for a few months, during which drove Shinde's auto to cover his daily expenses.

During the investigation, the police found that a shuffle had happened a few months ago between Khan and Shinde over the same issue and the former, with several others had beaten the latter. Then Shinde called Bhosle to the city to help him seek revenge and teach Khan a lesson. Thus, they purposely created a scene by parking his auto before Khan and the argument led to the murder. The police also recovered iron rods, chopper and knife from their auto-rickshaws.

After the incident, both accused escaped from Mumbai and were hiding who were hiding in the farm in Usmanabad. Detection officer PSI Yogesh Patil, PSI Nilesh More, ASI Mohan Bhabal, police constable Ashok Gadhave, and Vikrant Meher, under the supervision of their senior officers, traced them and brought them back to Mumbai.

"Initially we had registered the case under section 307 (attempt to murder) and various other sections of the Indian Penal Code. After Khan's death, they have also been charged with murder under IPC section 302. The accused were produced before the court Thursday and they were remanded to police custody till November 16, Senior Inspector Laxman Dumbre said.

Khan hailed from a village situated in Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh and was living Shivaji Nagar in Dahisar West with his younger brother, wife and three children. His younger brother Taufique Khan alias Monu, an auto driver, alleged that it was a planned murder and advised the police to include a charge of conspiracy in the FIR. He also said that his body has been taken to his native village after the autopsy for the last rites.

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