Kolhapur: Five arrested in homeless person’s murder case

KOLHAPUR: A mentally-ill and homeless man was brutally murdered by a group of five men in the city on Thursday because they felt he was a “nuisance in society” as he suffered from bouts of violent behaviour and was also accused of stealing idols from a temple.
Although the five suspects were arrested in the case a day later, the incident has highlighted the failure of the administration and even elected representatives in arranging medical and psychiatric help for the victim. Instead, some local residents decided to address the “nuisance” in the most inhumane and illegal manner.
Police are yet to ascertain the identity of the deceased, but initial investigation has revealed that he used to wander around in the Kasba Bawda area.
The five suspects, residents of the Kasba Bawda area, had allegedly thrown the man along the national highway after severely beating him and tying him up with a rope before putting him in a tempo. His body was found by the residents of Ambapwadi area who, in turn, alerted the police.
“The victim used to spend time near a religious place and local residents used to give him food and other items. However, the man was given to violent outbreaks. Some also suspected that he had stolen idols from the temple and buried them in a nearby farmland,” said police.
On Thursday night, the man was involved in a quarrel with a temple devotee. A group of people then decided to take him away from the area. However, the man pelted stones at them, following which the incident happened, said police.
The man died of his injuries and his body was found on Friday. Police, with the help of CCTV footage, identified the tempo and tracked down its owner. The five men were arrested based on information given by the tempo owner, who too was allegedly part of the group.
The arrested suspects have been identified as Yogesh Ravindra Tandle (23), Sushant Jaywant Mane (19), Nikhil Raghunath Biranje (25), Dattatrey Hindurao Shinde (46) and Shubham Schin Koli (22).