Mumbai Crime: 20-year-old man, teenager held in Kandivli temple fire deaths

Suspect Bhavesh Chandurkar with Charkop cops on Monday. He also suffered minor burns due to the petrol. Pic/Satej Shinde

A day after three people were killed in a temple fire in Kandivli, the Charkop police arrested two people, including a minor, on the charge of murder. The cops say petrol was thrown into the premises when the trio was fast asleep and the place was set afire.

While the fire brigade had said that a short circuit caused the fire at Shree Sai Sachchidanand Mitra Mandal, Charkop Bandar Pakhadi, locals had refused to call the death of Subhash Khode, Yuvaraj Pawar and Mannu Gupta, all in their mid-twenties, an accident.

The arrests followed a tip that a certain Bhavesh Chandurkar, who had frequent run-ins with Pawar, had gone missing from the area after the incident.

His call data records took the cops to one of his close friends, a 17-year-old boy.

The teen helped a team led by DCP Vishal Thakur nab Chandurkar, 20, from his aunt's home in Ahmednagar district on Monday.

The police said Chandurkar took out 5 litres of fuel from his two-wheeler for the crime. He said he wanted to kill only Pawar and held no grudges against the other two. "On December 25, Pawar and Chandurkar had an argument over cigarettes and that's when the latter decided to kill him. He then involved his minor friend," said Additional Commissioner Dilip Sawant of the North region.

A team comprising ACP Sunil Vadke from Charkop police, inspector Rajendra Satpute, Ghanshyam Nair along with API Vikram Babar, PSI Vijay Shinde began probing all angles to crack the case within a day, said senior officers.

The juvenile suspect has been sent to a correction home, while Chandurkar will be produced in a court on Tuesday.