Five arrested for fatally assaulting brother of cop

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Mumbai: Five men have been arrested for allegedly lynching the brother of a police officer with hockey sticks mistaking him for a robber. Two of them are watchmen of the Shahi building in Borivali where the incident took place and three others live in a neighbouring building. Since the victim, who was in a drunk state, was jumping over a boundary wall, the men thought that he was a robber and assaulted him, police said.

The watchmen tried to stop Lahane by flashing a mobile torch light towards him, but since Lahane was drunk, he did not pay heed. “That is when the five men assumed he was a robber and began assaulting him with hockey sticks and other sticks. The blows to the back of Lahane’s head were severe but there were no external injuries,” said Awhad. (HT PHOTO)
The watchmen tried to stop Lahane by flashing a mobile torch light towards him, but since Lahane was drunk, he did not pay heed. “That is when the five men assumed he was a robber and began assaulting him with hockey sticks and other sticks. The blows to the back of Lahane’s head were severe but there were no external injuries,” said Awhad. (HT PHOTO)

The two watchmen have been identified as Zohan Singh Bhatt, 35, and Janak Singh Bhatt, 28. The other accused are Harshit Gandhi, 37, his father Manish Gandhi, 52, and Hemant Rambia, 54, residents of Akanksha building.

Anil Awhad, senior police inspector of Kasturba Marg police station, said the victim, identified as Pravin Lahane, is a resident of Nashik and had arrived in Mumbai on Thursday to meet his family and friends. At 1.30am, when a drunk Lahane tried to enter the Shahi building at Carter Road Number 5 in Borivali east by jumping across the boundary wall of a demolished structure adjacent to it, the Gandhi father-son duo who stay in the adjacent building alerted the watchman and the residents of the building.

The watchmen tried to stop Lahane by flashing a mobile torch light towards him, but since Lahane was drunk, he did not pay heed. “That is when the five men assumed he was a robber and began assaulting him with hockey sticks and other sticks. The blows to the back of Lahane’s head were severe but there were no external injuries,” said Awhad.

After the assault, the men called up the Kasturba Marg police and Lahane was handed over to them. The victim seemed scared and was not even revealing the password of his mobile phone to the policemen. “On asking his name, Lahane said that he was Sachin Nana Kale. My team then took him to a hospital for a medical examination,” said Awhad.

After the medical examination, when Lahane was sitting on the bench of the hospital, he fell unconscious. On checking his pulse, the doctor declared him dead at Siddharth Hospital.

The autopsy report revealed that he died due to head injury. “We scanned the CCTV footage of the building and found the recordings of the assault. The accused denied beating him up but when we showed them the recordings, they confessed to the assault,” said Awhad. Based on the CCTV recordings, police have registered a case under the Indian Penal Code for death due to rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide, unlawful assembly, assault with weapon, rioting etc.

Awhad said that they do not know yet why Lahane crossed over the boundary wall of the building or even where he consumed alcohol. “There was no one with him, his brother Prakash Lahane was not even aware he had arrived in Mumbai,” said Awhad.

Lahane, who is based in Nashik, had a saree selling business which had closed down during Covid. After that, he made frequent trips to Mumbai to meet his relatives and friends, sources said.

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