The Navghar police in Bhayander on Tuesday arrested a murder accused within three hours of the case being registered.
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According to the police, daily wage labourer Kaalia was allegedly stabbed to death during an altercation near Vijay Punjab Hotel on BP Road in Bhayander (East) at 10.45 p.m. on Monday. Local residents called the police, and an FIR of murder was registered against unknown persons at 2.40 a.m. on Tuesday.
“We obtained CCTV camera footage of the spot. It showed the assailant having an argument with Kaalia, and then stabbing him in the stomach with a pointed iron hook used to lift heavy sacks,” Additional Superintendent of Police Atul Kulkarni, Thane Rural Police, said.
The police showed stills of the footage to residents, and some of them told the police the man was named Sushil Singh (23), a daily wage labourer who did not have any fixed place of residence.
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Police teams fanned out in the area in search of Mr. Singh, and one of the teams was told that he was seen heading towards the vegetable market in the area. The police picked him up a short distance away from the market around 20 minutes later.
“Inquiries have revealed that Mr. Singh and the deceased were known to each other as they were in the same profession. Mr. Singh would regularly fight with the deceased, asking for money to buy liquor. On Monday, Kaalia refused, and Mr. Singh, who was intoxicated, attacked him with the iron hook. When we picked him up, he did not even seem to realise that he had killed a man,” Mr. Kulkarni said.