Navi Mumbai: Man arrested for murder of brother, his family over property dispute

The police team that cracked the murder case

The Neral police in Raigad on Tuesday arrested a man for allegedly killing his brother, sister-in-law and his nine-year-old nephew. Police said the incident took place over a land dispute. The cops have identified the deceased as Madan Jaitu Patil, his wife Madhuri Patil and their nine-year-old son. The accused has been identified as Hanumant Patil. According to the police, the victims were attacked with a sharp weapon. The accused was arrested based on CCTV footage.

"We have arrested the accused [Hanumant]," said Raigad superintendent of police (SP) Somnath Gharge, adding that he was produced before the court, which remanded him in police custody for seven days. According to the police, all three were hacked to death with an axe on their heads and faces and their bodies were thrown in the nearby river by the accused.

Police said they launched a murder probe after finding the body of a boy in the river near Chickenpada village in Neral on September 9. An investigating officer said that the villagers identified the boy and took the body to his house, where they found the boy's parents missing. The officer said they continued the search for the boy's parents and only a few metres away, they found their bodies, too, pointing towards murder.

He added that the bodies were sent for a post-mortem to JJ hospital and an investigation into the incident was launched. Accordingly, a murder case was registered at Neral police station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nayanya Sanhit 2023. Police said the brothers were neighbours, but the land on which the property exists is in the name of Madan, the elder brother.

According to the police, Hanumant had been asking Madan to transfer half of the land to his name. However, Madan was unwilling to transfer the land, following which he had threatened him and also attacked Madan earlier. Police said they arrested Hanumant on suspicion of murder based on CCTV footage which showed him leaving the crime scene late at night. Hanumant confessed to the crime after being grilled, said police.