37-year-old who stoned pan shop owner to death on WEH arrested

The Dahisar police arrested Arvind Sharma on Tuesday

The Dahisar police on Tuesday arrested a 37-year-old man in connection with the murder of a pan shop owner. Ashok Mauriya was stoned to death by three men who were trying to snatch his phone while he walking on the Western Express Highway on Sunday.

The police said the accused has been identified as Arvind Sharma alas Bindu, who worked at a diamond workshop located near the crime spot near a Metro station in Dahisar. During the investigation, we had recovered an eyeglass used in the diamond industry, said the police.

The police said they enquired about the eyeglass at several diamond workshops in the nearby locality and at one of the places, they learnt that an employee left his job and went to his native village in Uttar Pradesh on the day Mauriya was murdered.

During interrogation, the police learnt that Sharma killed Mauriya because the latter refused to give him money for alcohol. Sharma was an alcoholic, and every day he would sit near the crime scene and drink liquor.

Deceased Ashok Mauriya

"We checked the CCTV footage from the nearby wine shop, and around the crime scene. Once we got confirmation, we sent a police team to his native village in Uttar Pradesh and caught him," said an officer from Dahisar police station.

Sharma told the police that on Sunday night, he had asked Mauriya for money and a fight broke out between them when he refused. When Mauriya started walking, Sharma picked up a stone and hit Mauriya's head from behind and fled, the officer said. Sharma was remanded to police custody by a local court.

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