Navi Mumbai: Man kills one, injures two for removing him from puja mandap

A 27-year-old man killed one and injured two from the Sainagar slum in the Rabale MIDC. The incident took place on Sunday night and the accused was arrested on Tuesday after one of the three injured died during treatment.

The arrested accused has been identified as Jitendra Babulal Patwa, a daily wage labourer and a native of Uttar Pradesh. The senior police inspector, Sudhir Patil, informed that the accused was drunk and had entered a small Navratri puja mandap in Sainagar in Rabale MIDC on Sunday night.

The trio, including the deceased Akash Jaiswal, stopped Patwa from entering into the puja area. They asked him to leave the place as he was drunk. But he kept dancing there. Later, they picked him up from the place at around 9 pm on Sunday.

The next morning around 5 am, when the deceased and the other two identified as Rashid Mubarak and Abhishek Bhalerao were sleeping outside their house, Patwa came in anger and attacked them with the hammer, said a police official.

The injured were taken to the civic hospital in Airoli. However, Jaiswal died during treatment on next afternoon as he had severe injuries in the head.

"Patwa was about to flee to Uttar Pradesh when he was caught by the police," said police. He added that the police have taken custody of Patwa till October 1.

Senior inspector Patil added "It is rumored that the incident occurred at a Garba venue. There was no Garba happening,". He added that Patwa was addicted to alcohol and other drugs.