Friendship with girl leads to 15-year-old’s murder, four held

Nagpur: A fight started by four youths with a teenage boy, who was becoming friendly with a girl of their area, claimed the life of the minor. The incident took place near the railway tracks at Gaddigodam area on Wednesday afternoon. The deceased, identified as Roshan Dongle, a resident of Gautam Nagar, Gaddigodam, was a Standard X student. Among the four accused, police have arrested Gautam Nagar resident Chandu Maske, Sonu Sawarkar and Piyush Ghodeswar. The fourth accused, Maske’s brother identified as Mithun, is still absconding. Police had earlier registered Dongle’s death as a case of accidental death but registered a murder case after doctors confirmed his injuries were suffered in a fight. Police said Dongle was good friends with a girl staying at Gautam Nagar. “He used to chat with her for long hours and would even roam around with her in the zone. All the accused were against Dongle’s friendship with the girl and had even warned him to stop meeting the girl,” said police. After school on Wednesday evening, Dongle had gone to meet the girl. An hour later, he had water from his friend’s house, Maske’s neighbour, and walked to the nearby railway tracks. While he was sitting alone on the tracks, the four accused surrounded him and picked up a quarrel with him for meeting the girl again. “The accused said Dongle would sit with the girl in front of their house and thus spread a wrong message in the society,” police said. The accused had even called up Dongle’s father, Rajesh, and told him about his friendship with the girl. The argument led to a fight between Dongle and the four accused. The youths surrounded Dongle and thrashed him. During the fight, one of the accused hit Dongle on the neck, that caused him to collapse and start frothing from the mouth. The accused panicked on seeing Dongle’s serious condition and rushed him to nearby Mayo hospital on their bike. Meanwhile, Gautam Nagar residents saw the youths taking Dongle to hospital and informed Rajesh. Dongle was declared dead by doctors. On learning about Dongle’s death, all four accused fled away from the hospital. Doctors alerted Sadar police minutes before Rajesh reached Mayo hospital. Doctors told police that four youths had brought Dongle to hospital. Police immediately rounded up Maske, Sawarkar and Ghodeswar. The three first misled police by claiming that Dongle suddenly suffered an epileptic attack and hence they had rushed him to hospital. Police initially registered a case of an accidental death. However, the other injuries on Dongle’s body proved that he was hit on the neck causing his death. Police then arrested all three on murder charges. Search for fourth accused is underway.