The New Panvel police are on the lookout for Prakash Yashwant More (26) who allegedly killed his neighbour Sujata (18) and her mother Surekha (37) after they rejected his proposal.
The victims lived on the first floor of a chawl in Dapoli Pargaon village in Panvel. The police said Mr. More’s wife died in childbirth in October last year. He then approached his neighbour Siddharth Balkhande (42), a daily wager, and expressed his desire to marry his daughter, a Class XII student at Anant Pandurang Bhoir School.
Shivraj Patil, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone II, said Mr. More and Mr. Balkhande hailed from Hingoli and they left for their hometown in November. The accused visited the victim’s house in Hingoli twice and repeated his request. Last month, the victim’s family came back to Panvel, while the accused returned on Friday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Patil said the accused reached the victim’s house at 8.30 a.m. on Friday and attacked Mr. Balkhande with a knife. When he rushed to the ground floor to seek help from the house owners, Mr. More stabbed the mother and daughter to death.
Mr. Patil said the accused was employed as a dumper truck driver till three months ago, but was currently out of work.