What started as a love affair between two teenagers who met on Instagram led to the brutal murder of the girl's uncle in the early hours of Thursday morning. A group of two women and four minor boys marched through the Chembur area armed with wooden sticks, looking for the girl's brother who had forbidden her from meeting her boyfriend, and killed her physically challenged uncle as revenge.
According to the Tilak Nagar police, the deceased has been identified as Prakash Waghmare (51), a resident of the P L Lokhande Marg in Chembur. The police said that Waghmare's 17 year old niece had met the main accused – a 17-year-old Govandi resident – on Instagram and the two were in a relationship. However, when the girl's brother found out about it, he forbade her from meeting the accused. The girl stormed out of her house and went to meet the accused, after which she told him about what happened.
“The furious accused, his mother, three of his friends and the mother of one of them reached the girl's area armed with wooden sticks. They started banging on doors and demanding that the girl's brother come out to meet them. However, he was not at home. They then assaulted some of her relatives till they said that the brother may be at Waghmare's residence. All the accused left for his house immediately,” police inspector Vilas Rathod, Tilak Nagar police station said.
The six accused barged into Waghmare's residence and proceeded to beat him up with the sticks till he fell unconscious, after which they left him lying in his house. His relatives, too, reached the spot and rushed him to the Rajawadi Hospital, where he was admitted for treatment. Doctors at the hospital also informed the Tilak Nagar police about the incident, and a team was sent to conduct inquiries.
The police obtained details of the accused, including the main accused's cell phone number, from Waghmare's relatives and started tracking their cellular locations.
Meanwhile, Waghmare was first shifted to the Manik Hospital in Chembur and later to the JJ Hospital in Byculla, where he died during treatment due to severe internal injuries at around 6 a.m. on Friday.
“We traced and detained all the six accused from different areas in Govandi. The two women were arrested and later produced in court, where they were remanded in police custody till June 6, while the four minors were sent to the juvenile detention center in Dongri. All the accused have been charged with rioting and murder under the Indian Penal Code,” Rathod said.
