Four held for lynching thief in Vikhroli

“We had detained Shashikant on Saturday and arrested him on Sunday. We later traced the other three based on Shashikant’s statement and arrested them on Sunday afternoon,” said Krishna G Gaikwad,senior police inspector of Vikhroli police station.

According to the Vikhroli police,the body of a 22-year-old man was found by the priest of Hanuman temple on Saturday morning. Policemen reached the spot and found the body of a man,semi-naked and appeared to be beaten to death. The police officers said the body bore injury marks based on which they registered a case of murder. When the body was recovered,a crowd of locals reached the spot,including S Gorkha,who recognised the body as that of his younger brother Arjun.

After registering the case,the police officers alerted the sources in the locality to find out if a fight had broken out,leading to the murder. By Saturday night,police officers investigating the case learnt that Arjun had been beaten brutally by residents of a nearby chawl.

Arjun,allegedly a petty thief,had many cases of chain snatchings and mobile thefts against him. He had allegedly tried to enter a house in the chawl with the intention to rob. “As soon as Arjun entered,Shashikant — who was sleeping on the couch near the window — nabbed him,” said Gaikwad.

Gaikwad said they detained Shashikant,who later revealed that as soon as he caught Arjun,he raised an alarm to alert the chawl residents. Within seconds the residents gathered at his house. Shashikant and the three others then stripped Arjun and began beating him with bamboo sticks.

“The mob beat up Arjun so brutally that he fell unconscious. The four men dumped his body near the temple,” said Gaikwad.

Taking the law into their hands

October 22: Sandeep Tatkare was nabbed by residents of Gala Nagar in Nalasopara east after he was allegedly accused of stealing a mobile phone and Rs 1,500. A mob beat up Tatkare till he fell unconscious and the police officers arrived at the spot and rescued him

October 15: The Dongri police arrested five men for allegedly lynching an 18-year-old boy after mistaking him to be a mobile robber. The five,who worked for the Huma Caterers,beat up Sukhi Rehman Shaikh and tied him up in the kitchen of their workplace for more than four hours

October 10: A chain snatcher would have lost his life if the orderly of ACP Mahim division had not been passing by and stopped the violent crowd. Faizan Qureshi alias Petaly (25) had robbed a chain from a 59-year-old woman when the crowd spotted him,nabbed him and started beating him up

May 15: Passersby lynched a chain snatcher and injured his accomplice after they attempted to snatch a woman’s mangalsutra at Arnala in Virar. Bhanumati Bhoir (45) and her relative were returning from a marriage in Arnala when Salman Patel (24) and Vir Singh (25) raced close to them on a motorcycle,robbed the chain and fled. The passersby caught them and beat them till they became unconscious.