'Fingers chopped': Auto driver murdered in front of his children in Maharashtra

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR: In a suspected gang war between the supporters of Raju Jagirdar and his rival Syed Mujeeb, a 38-year-old man was murdered in the presence of his young children late on Wednesday night by a group of men on the Sadat Nagar Road, under the railway station flyover in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city.

The deceased has been identified as Syed Imran, a resident of Sadat Nagar.

Police said Imran had recently taken up autorickshaw driving. On Wednesday, at least five men, driving a car without a number plate, allegedly waylaid Imran's three-wheeler under the bridge and brutally killed him. Imran's children, aged three and 13, were with him when he was attacked.

Police said Imran suffered deep cuts on his nape, various parts of his body, and his fingers were chopped. He died on the spot.

It was his 13-year-old son who raised an alarm and dialled a call to his uncle, Salman, who rushed to the spot. Imran was taken to the hospital but was declared brought dead.

Upon learning about the incident, police teams went to the location.

Acting swiftly, the police apprehended two accused — Syed Saddam (34) of Bhimnagar Bhavsinghpura, and Shaikh Irfan (30) of Patel Lawns, Beed Bypass. The duo initially fled to Jalna and were captured on their way back to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. On Thursday, they were remanded to nine-day police custody.

"Syed Mujeeb, who was named as the key accused, was initially not traceable. He was arrested from his home on Thursday evening by the crime branch after a tip-off that he would be coming home," said crime branch inspector Sambhaji Pawar.

After apprehending the accused duo in the early hours of Thursday, the car was seized, and the blood-stained clothes and sharp-edged weapons were recovered by the forensic teams.

Satara area police station inspector Krishna Shinde told TOI, "Preliminary probe has revealed that the incident was a revenge killing by a group of suspects belonging to another gang, with whom the victim and his brother had a conflict on May 30. Even the FIR states that there was already an issue between the two sides."

Based on Salman's complaint, arrested accused Saddam's brothers Mujeeb, Shadab, and Mohsin, along with their aide Shahrukh Qureshi and some unidentified suspects, have been named in the FIR. They have been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita's sections 103(1) for murder, 61(2) for criminal conspiracy, 189(2) for knowingly joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, 189(4) for being armed with a deadly weapon used as a weapon of offence and being a member of an unlawful assembly, and section 25(4) of the Arms Act.

The victim's family members, while demanding that all the accused be immediately arrested, brought Imran's body to the police commissioner's office and kept it in the porch for about a couple of hours.

It was after the senior police officer's assurance that no guilty party would be spared that they took the body and performed the last rites.

Police said Syed Mujeeb, who was identified as the mastermind of the murder, was closely associated with gangster Raju Jagirdar of Shrirampur in Ahilyanagar. Jagirdar is currently behind bars in a murder case. It was the victim's younger brother, Salman, a close aide of Mujeeb, who handled his illicit businesses.

After differences grew between Jagirdar and Mujeeb, Salman sided with Jagirdar, resulting in violent clashes after Salman, along with Imran and others, attacked Mujeeb at his home on May 30, leaving him seriously injured. Police reported that cross FIRs were registered against the accused from both sides.