Police have arrested a 25-year-old man from Jharkhand, where he was hiding after allegedly killing his cousin at Dombivali in Maharashtra's Thane district a fortnight back, an official said on Saturday.
The accused, identified as Kallukumar Sitaram Mahato, was arrested from his native place Garhwa in Jharkhand on Wednesday for the murder of his cousin Puran Sikandar Mahato, 47, he said.
Talking to reporters on Friday, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Dombivali, J D More, said the victim was found lying on a road in Golivali near Dombivali with severe injuries on November 4.
"After being informed, the personnel of Manpada police in Dombivali rushed the man, who was later identified as Puran Mahato, to a hospital, but he died during treatment. An offence under IPC section 302 (murder) was registered against an unidentified accused and a probe was launched," he said.
During the investigation, police came to know that there was a land dispute between the victim and his cousins, who lived in Golivali village, he said.
"The probe revealed that the victim had gone to the house of his cousins for dinner as per their invitation the night before he was found injured. However, the cousins later hit him with a big stone on his head and left him to die before leaving the village. After that, we launched a search for them. We received information that the accused were hiding in their village in Jharkhand. Accordingly, a police team went to that state to nab them," More said.
The police teams caught the victim's cousin, Kallukumar Mahato, but faced stiff resistance from locals residents. The villagers attacked the police teams - from Manpada police as well as from Jharkhand - with stones. Later, an offence in this connection was registered at local police station, he said.
Police are on the lookout for another accused in the case, Lallukumar Mahato, the official added.
The arrested accused was produced before a court here on Friday, which remanded him in police custody till November 22
