In a bizarre incident, a 54-year-old man went on a stabbing spree on Friday afternoon, killing three of his neighbours and injuring two others seriously. The shocking incident occurred on Lamington Road near Apsara Cinema in a chawl called Parvati Mansion.
Passers-by were shocked to see Chetan Gala chase and stab his neighbors with a knife in his hand. Some of them shot the video of the violent acts, which occurred at 3.30 p.m., on their mobile phones. The videos later went viral.
Hearing the commotion, personnel from the nearby DB Marg police station rushed to the scene of the crime, disarmed the remorseless killer, and placed him under arrest. The police rushed the victims, who were all profusely bleeding, to the Reliance Hospital, where three of them succumbed to their injuries. This is the second grisly crime to be committed in the city in the course of the past fortnight.
On March 15, Kalachowkie police arrested a woman for allegedly murdering her mother, dismembering her with a marble cutter, and storing the body parts in her home for more than two months.
According to information received from DB Marg police, the arrested accused, Chetan Gala, who lives in the Parvati Mansion building near Apsara Cinema, suddenly attacked his neighbours in the afternoon. Gala began stabbing people in the neighborhood with a kitchen knife, seriously injuring five people.
According to police, the incident occurred in the afternoon while people were passing by, and Gala was clearly seen attacking with a knife.
The police said that there was marital discord in the alleged killer's family, following which his wife moved out of the chawl and started living separately in rented premises nearby two months ago with her children. The Galas have three daughters and a son. One of the daughters is married.
Injured taken to Nair Hospital
According to the police, those injured in the incident were sent to the HN Reliance Hospital and the Nair Hospital.
Gala suspected that his neighbours had instigated his wife and took revenge on them by going on a stabbing spree. The police said constant quarrels used to take place between the Gala couple, with the wife accusing her jobless husband of not bringing enough to the family kitty. Gala had a shop, and the family was living off the rent it received.
People injured in the incident
The injured are Snehal Bhramabhatta, Jenny Bhramabhatta (mother-daughter), Jayendra Mistry and Ila Mistry (husband and wife) and Prakash Waghmare.
Police begins investigation
Deputy police commissioner Abhinav Deshmukh said his team has started the investigation and evidence has been collected from the scene of crime. The statements of the neighbours are being recorded.
Jayendra Mistry (77), his wife Ilaben (70), and Jenil Brahmabhatt (18) were among those killed in the incident. The grievously injured have been identified as Snehal Brahmbhatt (44) and Prakash Waghmare (53), who was a househelp who was sleeping in the common passage of the chawl when he was stabbed.
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