2 brothers arrested, 20 others named in caterer death FIR

NAGPUR: An offence of murder and rioting was registered against Yogesh and Rasik Waghela, and 15-20 of their accomplices by Lakadganj police on Tuesday in the death case of wedding caterer, 30-year-old Swapnil Dongre. The Waghela brothers, who were also slapped with the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes (Preventive of Atrocity) Act, have been rounded up.
Dongre, the only son of a Dalit widow, was thrashed at the wedding ceremony of the Waghela family at Patidar Bhavan on May 3. The Waghelas are into electronic business. The thrashing resulted in a ruptured intestine, as per the post-mortem findings at Mayo hospital, and resulted in Dongre’s death on May 10. The Lakadganj police had initially registered the case as accidental death.
Upset over Dongre leaving with a some fruits, the accused beat him up. The deceased was engaged as a juice-maker and to make fruit salad by catering contractor Raju Pandey.
It is learnt that there was tremendous pressure on the family through a political-criminal nexus not to file a police complaint. The police too seemed to have taken the case lightly despite Dongre’s death. The family, with the help of NGO ‘Yuvaaz — We the youths’, had also met state SC/ST commission member (legal) CL Thool on Sunday.
Senior police officers said the case depended on the post-mortem report from Mayo hospital. The report came on Monday saying rupture of intestine may have caused the death. The Waghelas were intensely grilled by Lakadganj police to zero down upon the actual perpetrators.
Senior PI Santosh Khandekar of Lakadganj police station said murder and riot charges were slapped as the Waghelas had ganged up to rain blows on Dongre which caused a deep injury in his intestine.
The case would now be probed by ACP Rajratna Bansod.
TOI had tried to contact the Waghela family at their Netaji Nagar residence at Kalamna but there was no response.