Bar goons attack scribes, hours later colleague found murdered
Mira Road : In a shocking incident, two journalists covering a police raid on a local bar at Mira Road were brutally attacked by the bar employees late on Thursday night. One of the journalists, Santosh Mishra, later went missing for some time.
A couple of hours later, one of their colleagues, identified as Raghvendra Dubey (38), who is an editor of a local Hindi newspaper, was summoned by the Mira Road police to ascertain the whereabouts of Mishra.
By a curious turn of events, a little while later, Dubey was found murdered at a stone’s throw from the bar and the police chowky.
It all started when a little past midnight a police team raided White House, an orchestra bar near Sai Baba Nagar, and arrested 17 people, including 14 bar girls, and booked them under relevant sections of the IPC. When the two local scribes, Shashi Sharma and Santosh Mishra, rushed to the spot, they were attacked by the bar operator, Ganesh Kamath, and his goons. The two scribes later revealed that a police sub inspector and three constables were present at the spot but did not take any action. “A PSI was present at the spot and could have saved us from being assaulted,” alleged Sharma, who sustained serious injuries and is undergoing treatment at the Indira Gandhi civic hospital; Mishra is admitted at the Bhaktivedanta hospital.
Another local reporter, Anil Nautiyal, who had also rushed to the spot, was lucky to escape unscathed.
In a bid to trace Mishra, Deputy SP Suhas Bawache contacted Dubey and summoned him to Mira Road police station. According to the police, Dubey reached at around 2 am and was there till 5 am. While Dubey was on the premises, it is claimed many people connected with the bar had gathered outside.
After Dubey left the police station, the police got a call at around 5.30 am that a body was lying near the White House bar. When the police reached the spot, they were shocked to find that it was Dubey, who had been brutally attacked with iron rods and also stabbed to death.
* Dubey, who had been inflicted deep head injuries, was in the business of passing information to the police about the irregularities in the area. Dubey’s brother claims that his brother’s body was mutilated and that his genitals were chopped off.
Six people, including the bar operator have been detained for questioning.
Demanding immediate action, the media fraternity has condemned the brazen attack by anti-social elements. “We will leave no stone unturned to nab the goons and the perpetrators of the murderous assault. As of now the prime suspects — Ganesh Kamath and his five cronies — have been detained; more arrests will follow,” assured Deputy SP Suhas Bawache.
It was Bawache who had personally contacted Dubey to ascertain the whereabouts of Mishra. An FIR under sections 302, 307 and 395 of the IPC has been registered.
Slain underworld don owned the bar
According to highly placed sources, the White House bar is owned by slain gangster O.P. Singh who was killed inside the Nashik Central jail in September 2002. Singh was a former aide of fugitive underworld don Chhota Rajan. His wife had leased out the bar to Ganesh Kamath. However, both were locked in a bitter tenancy dispute.
