28 January,2011 06:49 AM IST | | Ketan Ranga
Even as Popat Shinde the main accused in the gory killing of Manmad's Additional District Collector Yashwant Sonawane is recovering from burns, cops have arrested his son, a minor, saying he aided his father in setting the officer ablaze.
According to the police, 17-year-old Kunal played a major part in killing the officer along with his father. He was present at the time Sonawane was set aflame by Shinde and other oil thieves at a petrol pump in the outskirts of Malegaon.
The body of Additional Collector Yashwant Sonawane taken for the funeral in Manmad, Nashik district, yesterday
Assistant Police Inspector D K Thombad said, "Popat has been in the oil theft business for long. Now, he has also got his sons, Kunal and Vikas, involved.
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Both of them were part of the crime. In fact, Kunal is just over 17 years of age. But he helped his father in killing Sonawane."
Popat is now at JJ Hospital, nursing the 50 per cent burns he received after a blazing Sonawane pulled him close and clung on to him after being set on fire.
According to the police, at the time when Sonawane was sparring with Ajay Sonawane and other oil thieves, Shinde and his sons were on their way to the spot.
When they arrived, they caught the officer and started thrashing him. While Shinde's boys held him, he doused him in kerosene as others shouted for him to be burnt.
Later, his kids took him to the hospital, and left the officer to die.
While the accused have confessed to the crime, some claim they were not aware that Sonawane was a collector. They also maintain that they did not intend to kill him.
The arrested accused are identified as Popat Shinde, Ajay Sonawane, Sitaram Bhalerao, Raju Shirsat Machindra Suradkar alias Kacharu, Tauseef Shaikh, Deepak Borse, Kunal Shinde, Vikash Shinde, Hakami Khan and Imran
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So far, more than 180 persons have been arrested in the raids at nearly 200 oil adulteration locations in the state. A bandh was called in Manmad yesterday to protest the killing.
