Mumbai: A 27-year-old man allegedly killed his 40-year-old physically-challenged brother, Suneel Kotele, on Wednesday afternoon by setting him ablaze after throwing kerosene on him with the intent to take over the deceased's property.
The Goregaon police has arrested the accused on murder charges and a court remanded him to police custody till December 30. The police is examining the deceased’s neighbours’ claim that the accused had been pressurising the victim to handover his properties, a flat and a chawl-room in Goregaon, to him as he was physically-challenged.
According to the police sources, the incident took place on Wednesday afternoon at 11.45 am, when the accused, identified as Raju Kotele (27) came at Suneel’s residence in Goregaon’s Motilal Nagar no 2, and had a fight with him over a Goregaon-based flat and chawl. The latter then in a fit of rage poured kerosene over Suneel’s body and set him ablaze with a lighter from his pocket. After setting fire to Suneel’s body, Raju fled from the spot. The incident came to light when the neighbours noticed hot flames and smoke emanating from Kotele’s ground floor residence. The neighbours immediately ran to his rescue and tried to extinguish the fire, but by the time the fire was put out, Suneel was charred to death. The neighbours then alerted the Goregaon police, who upon reaching the spot enquired with the local residents, who said that there were family feuds between Suneel and his cousin Raju since a long time, and he was the last person to leave the residence. Acting on the information provided by the residents, the Goregaon police picked up Raju from his residence and arrested him on charges of murdering Suneel. Upon further investigation, the Raju confirmed the rift between the two over property matter, and confessed of killing him over that.
Dhanaji Nalawade, senior police inspector of Goregaon police station confirmed the incident and said, “The accused has been arrested for murdering his brother by setting him on fire. The accused has been booked under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code that pertains to murder.” The accused, Raju (27) was produced in court on Thursday and has been remanded to police custody till December 30.
