Debtors kill man, dump body at Madh Island

A 32-year-old man was murdered by his friends at Madh Islandin Malad west. The deceased, 32-year-old Jeetendra Patil, hadlent some friends money, who refused to return the amount andmurdered him when Patil insisted on payback. The police havearrested one out of the five friends.

The police have arrested the main accused, Mahesh Koli. Pic/u00a0Saurabh Vaktania

Patil was a resident of Airoli and had lent R three lakh in cash and ornaments worth Rs 15 lakh to his friend, Anil Kumar, during his wedding. Patil also lent money to another friend, Mahesh Koli. Despite his insistence, Kumar and Koli had not retuned Patil's money.

On Friday, Patil visited Madh Island for a condolence meeting at a relative's place. Koli, who also lives at Madh Island, asked Patil to join him and Kumar at his (Koli's) residence. There, the accused stuffed Patil's mouth with cloth, wrapped him in plastic and ties him up with nylon ropes. They then put him in a gunny bag and planned to throw him into the waters at night by taking him in a boat Koli owned.

Meanwhile, Patil's parents got suspicious after he went missing and informed Malvani police station. The cops discovered that he was last seen with the duo and reached his home at night to interrogate them. They finally found Patil's body at Koli's home and arrested the latter. Kumar is still at large.

A police officer from Malvani police station said, "Since Patil was insistent that Koli and Kumar return the money and ornaments, they decided to kill him, given Patil's political and financial background. Koli is arrested while search for Kumar is still on. Also, Patil was strongly built and we think it is not possible that two men murdered him in this manner. We suspect more people are involved in this crime."u00a0