Five men have been arrested in connection with the attack on DNA journalist Sudhir Suryawanshi (37) and his friend Santosh Phatate (40) at Kharghar on Friday.
The Crime Branch Central Unit and Unit-2 of Navi Mumbai jointly arrested Mayur Krishna Thakur (30), a resident of Kalpataru Riverside CHS in Panvel, Akash Krishna Patil (24) of Vichumbe village, Ashok Jagannath Bhoir (30) of Kolwadi Post, Padgha, and Vishwas Atmaram Kathara (30) and Ananta Tukaram Kathara (26), both from Adai village.
Thakur is a relative of BJP MLA Prashant Thakur and is a neighbour of Mr. Suryawanshi. The attack was planned by Thakur and executed by the other four.
Tracing the accused
The police first started retrieving CCTV camera footage starting from Kalpataru Riverside CHS, where Mr. Suryawanshi and Mr. Phatate live. The police noticed that four masked men were following the duo from the time they left the society. However, they removed their masks for some time, and the cameras captured their faces.
The first suspect identified was Akash Patil, who has a heavy-set physique. The police officials showed Patil’s photograph in gyms in Panvel and identified him. Using his call detail records, they traced him to Pen. “A team from the Central Unit, headed by Senior Police Inspector Jagdish Kulkarni, nabbed him at around 5.30 p.m. on Saturday. When interrogated, Patil revealed the details of his associates. A team from Central Unit-2, headed by Senior Police Inspector Nivrutti Kolhatkar, left for Lonavala, where the rest of the accused were hiding,” Assistant Commissioner of Police Nitin Kausdikar said. The team nabbed the four accused when they were on their way back to Mumbai at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Mr. Kausdikar said.
“Suryawanshi is the chairman of the housing society. For around two years, Thakur has constantly been fighting with Suryawanshi over petty issues like security and vehicle parking. The election in the society last month was another reason for fights between them, but not the sole reason. The people named by the complainants as suspects have no role in the case and have nothing to do with those arrested,” Mr. Kolhatkar said.
Thakur is a building material supplier and the other four are his childhood friends. “The motive was to teach him a lesson,” Mr. Kolhatkar said. Mr. Suryawanshi and Mr. Phatate were attacked by the four accused, who came on two bikes and had covered their faces with handkerchiefs. They attacked the duo with sticks and hockey sticks. Mr. Suryawanshi suffered a fracture to his right hand and Mr. Phatate’s hand suffered minor injuries on the hand.
All five have been arrested under Sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons) and 34 (acts done by several persons) of the Indian Penal Code, and have been remanded in police custody till April 5.
