Rabale MIDC police have arrested two accused within 24 hours after the murder of an autorickshaw driver in Airoli.
The police said Arun Yashwant Katkar (36), a resident of Sector 3 in Airoli, was murdered by his wife’s brother, Rahul Siddhart Pawar (33), and two friends following an argument on Monday at around 11.45 p.m.
Katkar was attacked while on his way home after drinking with his friend Sachin Shekhar Javan (33) at Bhushan Hotel in Rabale. The accused followed Katkar’s autorickshaw and attacked him with a rod when he stopped the auto to answer nature’s call.
Senior Police Inspector Chandrakant Katkar from Rabale MIDC Police Station, said, “One of Pawar’s accomplices, Aniket Supugle (27), has been arrested, while search for the other is on.” The police said that Katkar and Pawar were friends and Katkar decided to marry Pawar’s sister. Following the wedding, Pawar and his family shifted to Virar. Katkar’s wife, however, left him when he started abusing and assaulting her. She took their five-year-old daughter and began staying with her family.
The police officer said, “Katkar often visited Pawar’s house in Virar to meet his daughter. Fifteen days ago, a fight broke out between Katkar and his wife when he visited the house. When his wife’s mother tried to intervene, Katkar assaulted her. Pawar was furious that Katkar assaulted his mother and hatched a plot to kill him.”
The accused will be produced before court on Wednesday.
