In Yerawada chawl, 27-year-old ‘stripped by friends’ ends life; 1 arrested, 4 absconding

Mahesh Shinde, an RTO agent, hanged himself after he was allegedly beaten with belts, hit with stumps and stripped on Thursday by about 10-15 youths, said his family. Shinde was assaulted on a plot near Lumbini Garden in Yerawada. He somehow managed to reach home when it was dark.

Ashamed and humiliated, Shinde hanged himself at his residence when his wife was not at home. “When he limped home the day before he ended his life, my brother told our mother that he has lost his ‘izzat’…and therefore wouldn’t like to live anymore,” says Mahesh’s sister Aarti.

“It is clear that Mahesh took his own life because he found it difficult to face the world after being stripped…,” Aarti said.

Nirmala Hire, an aunt, says, “We were all shocked to see Mahesh’s body. It had bruises all over. Apparently, he was beaten with stumps that broke into pieces. The police found the stumps at the spot.”

The youths who stripped Shinde were apparently close friends with whom he roamed and dined practically everyday. According to the family, Mahesh had lent Rs 12,000 to one of his friends over which a dispute had arisen between the two.

“The friend then told the group and took revenge on Mahesh in a most savage manner,” says his brother Umesh Shinde.

“Mahesh had injury marks on his face and neck. When I closely examined him, his neck had a severe crack which reveals they had hit him with a blunt object,” says Aarti.

“We were stunned to find that the post-mortem report did not mention the nasty injury mark,” alleged the family, which urged Sassoon dean to probe the matter. The family said they nabbed one person who confessed to them and handed him over to police.

S A Patil, senior inspector of Yerawada police station, said they arrested one person in connection with the case. “He and four others have been charged with abetment to suicide. The four others are absconding,” said Patil.

The family has sought arrest of all the accused who they said were involved in the attack, claiming to have witnesses to prove their involvement.

Shinde is survived by his wife and a three-year-daughter.