Navi Mumbai: A business rivalry between two meat shop owners in Airoli ended with the murder of one on Tuesday. The accused, identified as Sajid Hameed Qureshi (27) and Sajjad alias Kadeer Najeer Qureshi (19), were arrested within one hour of the crime.
Alim Abdul Vahid Qureshi (31) had been running his shop named Maharashtra Chicken Shop near Gaodevi garden at Sector 20 for the last two years. Six months ago, Sajid started another shop named Lucky Mutton and Chicken Shop in the neighbourhood. Sajid later employed his relative Sajjad in his shop, which had started making more profits than that of Alim’s.
With Alim’s business slowly going down, he started picking fights with Sajid. Alim would even block his bike in the market. “At around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, the trio started fighting outside Sajid’s shop. Sajid took out the meat-chopping knife and hit Alim behind his head. The duo fled the spot soon after,” said assistant police inspector Santosh Kotwal from Rabale station.
Alim’s worker Ismail Shaikh Mohammad Qureshi informed the police and his family. He was taken to a hospital in Sector 3 where they asked him to shift to NMMC Hospital in Vashi. He was declared dead on arrival there.
Meanwhile, the accused, who hail from Akola, left for Ghansoli railway station to flee to their home town. A team of Rabale police, led by senior police inspector Pradeep Tidaar, arrested the two by 11 p.m. at Ghansoli station.
The duo arrested under Sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 34 (acts done by several persons) of the IPC, were produced before court on Wednesday and were remanded in police custody till April 3.
Alim is survived by wife, parents, brother and four children.
