Thane: Police register case against three for beating man to death

Thane city police in Maharashtra have registered a case against three persons who allegedly beat a 45-year-old man to death and forcefully cremated his body, an official said on Thursday.

According to the police, victim Santosh Sudam Sarkate worked in the farmhouse of one of the accused, Nitin Manohar Patil, in Dombivali and the crime was committed on January 10. The official said Patil had given a rifle to Sarkate for safekeeping. Citing the complaint by the victim’s family, the official said Sarkate could not recall the place where he had kept the firearm when Patil demanded it back.

Patil and one Abishek Pradeep Lad then brutally thrashed Sarkate in the presence of his son and grandmother, said the police. Sarkate was taken to a hospital where doctors declared him dead. It was alleged that the accused cremated the body at a crematorium in Dombivali against the wish of the victim’s family.

Sarkate’s family recently approached the police saying they were scared as the accused had warned them against speaking about the crime. Based on their complaint, the police on Wednesday registered a case against Nitin Patil, Abhishek Lad and Vijay Ganpat Patil for murder, criminal intimidation and causing the disappearance of evidence, the official said.