The Goregaon police Monday arrested four people for allegedly beating a 26-year-old man to death over the suspicion that he was a mobile phone thief.
The deceased has been identified as Harshal Parma, a resident of Goregaon (West), while the accused are Salman Khan, Ismullah Khan, Gautam, and Rajiv Gupta.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) lodged in this regard, the deceased entered an under construction building in Goregaon (West) along with three others on Sunday, allegedly to commit theft. However, Parma was caught by labourers while the others managed to flee. The police said the labourers tied up Parma’s hands and legs, and severely assaulted him using bamboo sticks.
“All the accused are painting workers at the building. They have been arrested on charges of murder,” said Sandip Jadhav, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Zone 11. The police also found that the deceased had a previous case of theft lodged against him which is under investigation, he added.
The FIR lodged by Parma’s mother Suvarna and father Ramsingh stated that he had left home on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday without having dinner, saying that he was headed to a party. However, he did not return. On Sunday morning, the Goregaon police informed them that Parma was found in an unconscious state in a building in the Subhash Nagar area and admitted to a hospital in Jogeshwari.
According to the police, Pappu Yadav, a security guard at the building, alleged that around 3 am on Sunday, Vasant Kumar, a worker living on the third floor, informed him that four thieves had entered the building and stolen his mobile phone, of which one person was caught.
The police said the workers allegedly tied up Parma, following which Salman and Ismullah beat him with bamboo sticks. Yadav requested them not to beat him, but they threatened the security guard, prompting him to leave. Around 7 am, Parma was found unconscious in the parking lot and Yadav informed his security supervisor who in turn alerted the police about the incident. Parma was rushed to a hospital where he was declared dead, added an officer.
