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Journalism of Courage
A 20-year-old student was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by two of his friends in Mumbai Monday,in a case that bears similarities to the Adnan Patrwala murder in August 2007 (see box).
Hours after the murder,Kalpesh Saroj,25,and Ravindra Kumar Yadav,25, green grocers from Boisar allegedly called up the victims father and demanded Rs 8 lakh. They were arrested from Kandivali Tuesday night when they went to collect the ransom. On Wednesday,the duo led the police to Shrirams body,which had been dumped near the Naigaon creek.
Shriram,son of a civil contractor at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station,was a second-year B Com student at Thakur College of Science and Commerce in Kandivali.
Police said since Shriram found it difficult to travel to college from his home in Boisar daily,he stayed in a flat at Mira Road.
The accused reportedly told police they knew Shriram was from a well-off family and that his father had purchased a flat at Mira Road. Saroj had borrowed Rs 1 lakh from Shirams father Ramchandra a month ago,which he was unable to return,Additional SP Sangramsinh Nishandar said. To make a quick buck and return the loan,Saroj plotted to kidnap and kill Shriram and roped in Yadav.
On Monday,they allegedly talked Shriram into going to Boisar with them and set out for Virar,where they were to switch trains. Instead they got off at Naigaon,where Shriram was murdered.
Saroj then called up Ramchandra and told him to ransom his son for Rs 8 lakh,which was then negotiated down to Rs 3 lakh. Ramchandra went to the police. To drop off the cash,Saroj called Ramchandra to Bandra but changed the location to Andheri and then Borivali. During one call,he even demanded that the money be thrown from a train near Kandivali, said Nishandar. We followed the directions and Tuesday night,when Ramchandra was told to hand over the money near Kandivali rail bridge,we laid a trap and arrested them.
Friends turn killers
On January 30,2012,four youngsters accused of kidnapping and killing Adnan Patrawala in 2007 were acquitted. The police had alleged that Patrawala (16),the son of a businessman,was kidnapped by five friends. The five asked him to drive with them to Kandivali,following which they made him have a spiked drink,the police said. After the plan to extort Rs 2 crore from his family went haywire,the five allegedly killed him in Navi Mumbai.
Protests at Tirupati hospital after 10 children die
There were protests outside the SVR Ruia Hospital in Tirupati,after at least 10 children admitted at the hospital died on Wednesday,with parents alleging that none of the senior doctors were on duty. The parents of the children,newborns to a 14-year-old girl,alleged that their children died due to absence of senior and specialist doctors,and only inexperienced doctors attended to their wards.
