Police arrest four goons for killing rival

Thane police (rural)’s local crime branch (LCB) unit has arrested four persons, including a teenager, for the murder of a man whose death was earlier attributed to a road accident in Kashimira, Mira Road.

The police arrested the accused for targeting the deceased as the alleged result of a rivalry between two local groups involved in the illegal sale of prescription medicines used as drugs, such as cough syrups. The deceased and his assailants are suspected to have been working for groups hostile to each other and were competing for control over a larger share of their clientele.

According to the police, a profusely bleeding Anil Yadav was found in an unconscious state near Neel Kamal junction area in Kashimira during the early hours of September 28. Two days later, Yadav succumbed to injuries while undergoing treatment at Centenary Hospital in Kandivali. The case would have become a mere statistic in accident records had it not been for the strong informer network developed by LCB officials.

A crime branch staffer who was earlier attached to the Kashimira police station was tipped-off by an informer that Yadav was attacked by a gang led by Amin Babu Kutty (26) and left to die.