Thane: Man gets life for killing of plumber over political row

THANE: The sessions court convicted a 33-year-old man from Bhiwandi for the murder of a plumber over a political dispute and sentenced him to imprisonment for life. Ahmed Ansari alias Pappu Puriwala was convicted by sessions judge A S Bhagwat recently.
“Asif Shaikh, and Arif Shaikh, a former corporator of Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC), siblings who were also tried in the case, have been given the benefit of doubt and were acquitted,” said additional public prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale.
The prosecutor told court that while the accused worked for the Congress candidate in the 2014 assembly elections the victim worked for the winning BJP candidate.
On December 10, 2014, at 3.15pm, while Maksud Shaikh, 26 was working in the town, he was attacked with lethal weapons. Hiwrale said 19 prosecution witnesses were examined in the case.