The Navi Mumbai police has arrested five more people including two minors in the case where a 16-year-old Dalit boy was beaten to death for being in a relationship with an upper caste girl. According to sources, three of the five arrested are relatives of the accused’s family. The two others are minors, friends of the girl’s brother who had orchestrated the murder.
Swapnil Shahaji Sonawane, a resident of Seawoods locality, was allegedly threatened and beaten to death for having an affair with a 15-year-old girl, daughter of Rajendra and Malati Naik from the same area. The two were classmates and had started dating each other recently. The girl’s brothers Sagar and Sajesh allegedly kidnapped Swapnil with the help of a rickshaw driver Samir and then beat him up.
The Navi Mumbai police on Friday morning arrested five more people in connection with the murder. Sources from the police said that all five of them were present at the scene of the incident and had also rained blows on the teenager. “Two of those arrested are minors and are friends of Sagar and Sajesh. They had been called to ‘take care of Swapnil,’” said an officer. The names of the minors have been withheld to protect their identity and they have been sent to a children’s remand home.
The other three arrested accused have been identified as Immad Thakur, Ibrahim Mukadam and Vikram Thakur. “They are relatives and family friends of the Mane family. They were arrested from Navi Mumbai,” said the officer.
The accused have been arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and remanded to custody till July 27.
According to the police, the Naik family disapproved of the fact that Swapnil, who was a Dalit, had “dared” to fall in love with the Naiks’ daughter who belongs to a higher caste. Swapnil’s father works in a bank while the Naiks are landlords.
Among the others arrested in connection with this case are the girl’s parents, brothers and the rickshaw driver who helped them. The Navi Mumbai police commissioner also suspended assistant inspector Yogesh Mane and sub-inspector Sonali Rajguru for their failure to prevent the killing. Mane and Rajguru had allegedly allowed the Naik family to thrash Swapnil a few days before the murder within the premises of the police station. The officers had allegedly mocked Swapnil’s parents and even warned them that if they did not rein their son in, he would meet the same fate as the characters in the popular marathi movie Sairat that has a similar plot. The officers also refused to lodge a complaint against the Naik family when Swapnil’s parents approached them.
