Bhayandar: Less than 48 hours after he brutally murdered his colleague on board a fishing boat in the coastal area of Uttan near Bhayandar, the Thane (rural) police arrested the 28-year-old khalasi (helper) for his involvement in the crime. The deceased, who has been identified as Santuram Hariram (34), worked as a helper on Pralaykar, a fishing boat owned by Lenson Katwar.
Santuram had mysteriously disappeared from the boat while it was anchored at the jetty on the coastline in Chowk village on Sunday. A team from the Uttan coastal police station led by in-charge, API Satish Nikam initiated investigations into the missing person report registered by the boat owner. Meanwhile, the police recovered Santuram’s body with visible injury marks on his forehead.
“While inspecting the boat, our personnel spotted blood stains on a wooden plank near the driver’s cabin, which suggested a murderous assault had taken place. Following which, we detained the two other helpers on board for questioning,” said an investigating officer.
The duo pinpointed at one of their colleagues, identified as Ramaswami Bhuvneshwar Shriwas (28), for murdering Santuram. Revealing the sequence of events, the duo stated that Santuram and Ramaswami often quarreled over petty issues. However, the war of words over cleaning utensils took a violent turn when Ramaswami attacked Santuram with an iron rod and pushed him into the water, late on Saturday night, police said.
Santuram had cried for help, but Ramaswami forcefully stopped them from helping. The police arrested the accused and charged him under sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence and 302 (murder) of IPC. The accused and the deceased are natives of Chhattisgarh. The accused was remanded to custody after he was produced before the district sessions court, Thane on Tuesday evening.
