Maharashtra: Man held for bludgeoning 60-year-old healer to death in Palghar

A man has been arrested for allegedly bludgeoning a 60-year-old healer to death in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, police said. The police arrested the accused from Shirsad village in the district on Sunday, an official said.

The victim Bhiva Bikya Wayda was found dead on the side of the road leading up to Usagaon lake on May 25, senior inspector Prafulla Wagh of Mandvi police station said. 

A case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code was registered and a probe was initiated, he said. The police zeroed in on the accused based on the CCTV footage from the scene, the official said.

The accused approached the victim after his wife left him six months into the marriage. He gave the healer Rs 2,000 to perform some rituals to bring back his wife and when it did not yield any results, he decided to kill the victim, he said.

On May 24, the accused invited the victim for a drink and attacked him with a cement block, killing him on the spot, the official said, adding that the accused had also been involved in a murder in 2017.