Four individuals have been arrested in Navi Mumbai for allegedly murdering a man suspected of stealing electric poles and wires, sparking a police investigation into the crime.
The crime branch of Navi Mumbai police has arrested four persons for allegedly beating a 31-year-old man to death on suspicion of theft, officials said on Thursday.
Sandeep Laxmikant Vishwakarma, a resident of Mankhurd in Mumbai, was reported missing on February 15 and his body was found the next day within the jurisdiction of Rabale MIDC police station, said a press release.
Autopsy report said that Vishwakarma had died due to injuries sustained in an assault.
Mobile phone records showed that Vishwakarma was in Vashi on February 15 and had spoken with a scrap dealer.
"Interrogation revealed that the deceased was caught while allegedly stealing electric poles and wires. The accused beat him up, resulting in his death, and carried his body in a rickshaw and dumped it near a drain in Mahape MIDC," said the release.
Sanket Jagtap, the rickshaw driver, allegedly confessed that he and three others caught Vishwakarma stealing from electrical distribution points (DPs) and assaulted him.
Subsequently, police arrested Pritam Bharat Bhoir (26), Shivaji Shankar Dumbare (57) and Amol Ramesh Gunjal (31). Gunjal is an electrician.
Further probe is on.