Man murdered by brothers of a woman he fancied

MUMBAI: A 20-year-old man was murdered at Malwani on Tuesday by two brothers of a woman he was interested in. Police said the accused were carrying his body down the staircase of their two-storeyed residence when they missed a step and the body hurtled down. Both the accused, Ajmal Ali Khan, 23, and Wasim Ahmed Khan, 19, have been arrested.
Ajmal and Wasim are autorickshaw drivers. They moved to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh four years ago and lived at New Collector's Compound in Malwani with their 18-year-old sister Fiza. The deceased, Saif Ali, hailed from the same hometown as the Khans. He had expressed interest in marrying Fiza last year. But the Khan brothers told Saif that Fiza was very young and he should wait for a few years.

According to the police, Saif would visit the Khan residence under some pretext. The brothers did not like this and had limited their interactions with him. Around 9.30am on Tuesday, Saif, who also works as an autorickshaw driver, turned up at the Khan residence when the brothers were away. Fiza was alone at home and was doing chores. She let him in and the couple started to chat when her brothers suddenly arrived.

"The two were furious on finding Saif inside their home. There was a heated exchange of words following which Saif slapped one of the accused," said senior inspector Deepak Phatangare, Malwani police. Ajmal grabbed a kitchen knife, that his sister was using for chopping vegetables, and stabbed Saif in the stomach. When Saif began to bleed, the Khan brothers panicked and decided to take him to the hospital. They started to carry him down the stairs of their two-storeyed residence. When they had reached the first floor, the accused missed a step and the body came hurtling down. The brothers also stumbled and fell, suffering minor bruises. Afraid of getting caught by the police, the accused fled. Residents called up the police control room.

Saif's uncle, Sabir Ali, then took Saif to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Malwani police registered a case of murder. Within a couple of hours, the Khan brothers were traced from Malwani and arrested on murder charges. The knife used for the murder has been recovered.