Pune: 17-yr-old killed in gang rivalry over social media

Pune:  A 17-year-old was killed in a fight of one-upmanship on social media in the industrial town of Chakan, some 45 kilometres from in Pune, police said.

Police said that Aniket Sandip Shinde was killed on Thursday after he put "Dad of the King" as his social media account status in response to the "King of Chakan" status put by accused Omkar Zagade.

"Shinde and Zagade were known to each other and have been indulging in illegal activities to establish their dominance in the Chakan area and this led to rivalry," a Chakan police official said.

"Recently Zagade had put "King of Chakan" as his status message on a social networking account. In response, Shinde kept his status message as "Dad of the King" which angered the accused and his fellow gang members," the official added.

Shinde and Zagade, after exchanging abuses over phone, met at Sangramdurg on Thursday, where Shinde was attacked by eight persons, the police said. He said that one of the persons in Zagade's group even fired a gun at Shinde but it did not discharge.

Shinde, and his friend Omkar Bisnare, were then attacked with sharp weapons in which Shinde died and Bisnare was injured, officials said.

Chakan police registered a case against eight people and arrested three of them, officials said.

Police identified the three arrested persons as Kiran Dhanwate, Tejas Repale and Pappu Dhanwate, adding that a hunt was on for Zagade.