A 26-year-old truck driver allegedly stabbed to death a 37-year-old mother and her 18-year-old daughter after the mother refused to marry her daughter with him on Friday morning in Pargaon in Panvel. They all are from the Hingoli district of Maharashtra and they were residing in the same neighborhood in Pargaon.
The accused also attacked the girl’s 41-year-old father with the chopper and the latter suffered severe injuries in his hands.
According to the police, the girl- Sujata Balkhade, her mother Surekha Balkhade, father Siddharth Balkhade and her three other siblings stayed in the same neighbourhood as the 26-year-old accused. They are all from the Hingoli district of Maharashtra and they knew each other for the past several years.
Shivraj Patil, deputy commissioner of police (zone 2) said, “The accused is a truck driver and his wife had passed away in October, last year. He wanted to marry Sujata. However, her family was against it.”
He added that around three months ago, the girl’s family and the accused had been to their native place in Hingoli, and the accused kept asking for marriage. “He had even staged a suicide drama by trying to jump off an electric poll there,” said Patil.
Meanwhile, the girl’s family returned to Panvel around a month ago, the accused stayed back. “But the accused kept calling girl’s father over the phone from Hingoli for the wedding. However, the family did not budge before him,” said Patil.
Around 8.30 am on Friday, the accused reached the girl’s house (from Hingoli) with a chopper in the hand and started arguing for marriage. When he was resisted by the family, he attacked with the chopper. “Since they were residing on rent, the father went out to inform their landlord about the incident. Meanwhile, in a fit of rage, the accused then attacked the girl and her mother. He stabbed the girl on her throat multiple times and then slit her mother’s throat. Both the women died on the spot and the accused then ran away,” Patil said.
The police have registered a case under sections 302 and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the accused.
“We are now looking for him and hope to arrest him soon. We don’t think that he had some more people involved with him,” Patil further said.
