The Thane sessions court has sentenced a resident of Darave village to life-term imprisonment for killing a scrap vendor in July 2015.
The conviction order was passed by Principal District and Sessions Judge Vinay Joshi. The accused, Hanumant Bhoir (57), killed Ashok Rathod (25), resident of Mankhurd, on the streets of Darave village in Nerul.
The Nerul police said that they had arrested Bhoir within three hours of the murder. The police said that Bhoir killed Rathod to avenge the murder of his son, Vaibhav (25), who was found dead on the tracks on January 8, 2015.
He was allegedly run over by a train while crossing the tracks. A case of accidental death was filed by Vashi Government Railway Police.
Bhoir suspected that Rathod was behind his son’s death and had made it appear as a railway accident. On July 14, 2015, at around 2 p.m., a quarrel broke out between Bhoir and Rathod. Kamala (50), Rathod’s mother, intervened and defused the argument. When she left the place, Rathod consumed alcohol at a local bar.
On his way home, Rathod saw Bhoir and said he would eliminate him just as he had killed Vaibhav. Bhoir who was under the influence of alcohol and in a fit of rage picked up a knife lying nearby and stabbed Rathod in the stomach.
Police Inspector Nagraj Majage, who probed the case, said, “We had recorded the statements of key eyewitnesses. As a precautionary measure, we recorded the statements before the Vashi JMFC court under Section 164 of the Cr.P.C.”
Mr. Majage added, “We then submitted the documentary evidence before the Thane sessions court after a witness was untraceable after he shifted to Lucknow. The Thane court demanded that the police produce him before the court. We learnt from Lucknow he had shifted to Delhi. A police team was then sent to Delhi to nab him and he was summoned to Mumbai to give his testimony before the court.”
