Mumbai: Man mistaken for thief beaten to death by 5 men

The Kasturba Marg police have denied that a suspected thief had died while in its custody.

On the night of May 25, Praveen Lahane climbed up a wall and entered the premises of Sashi Housing Society, Broviali (west). The two night watchman spotted him and questioned him. They were joined by three members of the Society. All five of them allegedly beat up Lahane brutally with bamboo sticks. Despite Lahane pleading innocence and denying that he had entered the building with an intention to steal, they continued to thrash him.

Lahane's pleas fell on deaf ears

Despite Lahane pleading innocence and denying that he had entered the building with an intention to steal, they continued to thrash him. Consequently, he received multiple injuries on his head. Police reached the spot and took a profusely bleeding Lahane to Shatabdi Hospital in Kandivli but he was reportedly declared dead on admission. According to the police, Lahane hailed from Nashik and often came to Mumbai to meet his relatives and friends.

Police Action: Denies custodial death

Meanwhile, an FIR has been registered against the two watchmen Jorasingh Bhatt (35) and Janak Bhatt (32), and the three members of the Society Harshit Gandhi (27), Manish Gandhi (52), and Hemant Rambiya (59) under the various sections of the IPC 304 (culpable homicide),144 (unlawful assembly). Senior police officials rushed to the scene of crime.

The police refuted rumors regarding Lahane dying in police custody, Senior PI Anil Awadh said, "There is no custodial death in this case, Lahane's suffered head injuries when people beat him up which resulted in his death. The body has been sent to JJ Hospital for postmortem."

The five accused were arrested and produced before the magistrate's court which sent them to judicial custody for seven days.