Teen called out of class, murdered by minors

MUMBAI: A teenager was dragged out of a Bhandup college by a youth and two others suspected to be minors and stabbed to death on Thursday. The three accused are residents of Tempipada locality.

Police recorded the statements of Sushil’s friends who said the trio had recently abused and warned Sushil over his friendship with a girl because one of them liked her. But Sushil had ignored their threats.

Sushil was in a classroom early on Thursday when a youth, his face covered with a handkerchief, walked in and asked him to come out. When Sushil went out with him, the other two dragged him outside the college, said police.

One of them caught hold of Sushil while the other repeatedly stabbed him in his stomach and chest with a sharp knife till he collapsed. The trio fled after abusing a bleeding Sushil. When Sushil did not show up in class for nearly half an hour, his friends went out to look for him and found him lying in a pool of blood. They immediately informed their teachers and principal who rushed Sushil to Agarwal Hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Sources said there were three sharp injuries on his body and he died due to blood loss and multiple organ failure. Police are awaiting his post-mortem reports though.

“We are in the process of recording the statements of witnesses to zero in on the motive,” said Srinivas Panhale, senior inspector, Bhandup police. Police are also checking the CCTV footage of the college to find out the culprit’s identity.

Sushil’s family refused to speak on the tragedy. There have been seven murders in Bhandup in the past six months alone and the crime rate has been on an upswing as the population here has multiplied 10 times in 10 years, said police sources.