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Navi Mumbai: Raigad Local Crime Branch (LCB), has arrested the accused who allegedly killed his elder brother, sister-in-law and their son over a property dispute. The accused identified as Hanumant Jayantu Patil (30), was arrested on Monday.
The victims- Madan Jayantu Patil (35), his seven month pregnant wife Anisha (30) and their 11 year old son Vivek- were found dead on September 8 at the banks of a river in Neral. The deceased lived at Chikanpada in Neral along side the same river in which their bodies were found.
After the bodies were discovered by the local on Sunday morning, the police started their investigation and in the process interrogated deceased man's younger brother Hanumant. Prima facie, the younger brother showed that he was sad and shocked at the demise of the whole family of his elder brother.
The victims- Madan Jayantu Patil (35), his seven month pregnant wife Anisha (30) and their 11 year old son Vivek- were found dead on September 8 at the banks of a river in Neral | File Photo
As the investigations proceeded, LCB found that the brothers had a dispute over the house in which they resided. "Both the families earlier lived in the same house. The younger brother started demanding his share of the house from the elder brother which often lead to domestic fights which was once reported to police as well.
The families eventually started staying seperately in the same house by partitioning it with a wall. The accused kept demanding the share and to reduce his name from the ration card belonging to the deceased brother so that he could have his individual ration card which could be used to buy groceries for his family at cheaper rate," senior police inspector (LCB) Balasaheb Khade said.
During the investigations, the police interrogated him with very detailed and confusing questions which eventually lead the accused to confess his crime.
As Ganapati festival commenced, the accused knew that his brother will have ganapati at his home and as per the ritual, he would not latch the house from inside in the night hours. The accused found it to be the apt time to commit the murder and later take over the property as well as the ration card.
On September 7, the accused dropped his wife and two kids to his wife's house and to show that he was not at his house when the murder happened, he left to his uncle's house which was around one kilometer away from his residence.
On September 7 night, the accused went to sleep on the first floor of the residence of his uncle and after making sure that everyone slept, he stepped outside and went to his elder brother's house and killed the trio with a sharp weapon by attacking them of their head.
"He then dragged the bodies to the backside of the house and threw into the river. He cleaned the house and then changed his clothes. By 5 am, he went back to the uncle's house, attended the morning ganapati prayers and pretended as if he was at the house itself," Khade added.
Due to the history of their fights, the younger brother was the prime suspect and the police had found a footage of a road from where he had passed while travelling to and fro from the uncle's residence to brother's, at night to commit the murder.
The accused revealed that he had dumped the clothes he wore while committing the murder into the same river which the police are yet to find. The accused was arrested under the sections 103 (1) and 238 of BNS and has been remanded to police custody for seven days.
