‘Sadhu’ arrested for killing auto driver in scuffle for train seat
A ‘sadhu’ was arrested for the death of an autorickshaw driver after he slashed the latter’s arm with a knife on Tuesday night during an altercation over seats in a Karjatbound local. Government Railway Police (GRP) said Maruti Shirke, 48, of Ambernath bled to death after alighting at Ambernath station.
According to the GRP, Dilip Sharma, 60, was arrested from Karjat and originally hailed from West Bengal. They said the duo got into a fistfight over seating during which Shirke pulled Sharma by his beard. Incensed, Sharma pulled out a knife and attacked Shirke, injuring his forearm. Shirke was returning from his hometown Jambulpada in Raigad district, and was accompanied by an elderly relative.
According to canteen employees at Ambernath station, Shirke was bleeding when he got off the train, while Sharma continued to travel on it. As Shirke walked out of the station, there was blood everywhere, they said.
Railway police officers rushed Shirke to hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Doctors at the Thane Civil Hospital told Shirke’s family that his vein was severed, and the bleeding lead to his death. “How can people get away with carrying knives and attacking people on issues as trivial as seating?” Shirke’s wife Veena, who works as a domestic help, demanded to know.
Veena, who was in the hospital with both her daughters, added Shirke had been an autorickshaw driver in Ambernath for the past 25 years and was known to be a patient man who rarely lost his cool.
A GRP team spread out to nab the accused, and nabbed him on Wednesday from Karjat.
Somnath Tambe, Senior PI (Ambernath GRP), told Mirror, “The two had an altercation over seating. Sharma, the accused slashed Shirke’s wrist with a knife meant to chop onions. Sharma was a street dweller, and a tumbler and shawl recovered by the GRP were his only belongings.”
According to the GRP, Dilip Sharma, 60, was arrested from Karjat and originally hailed from West Bengal. They said the duo got into a fistfight over seating during which Shirke pulled Sharma by his beard. Incensed, Sharma pulled out a knife and attacked Shirke, injuring his forearm. Shirke was returning from his hometown Jambulpada in Raigad district, and was accompanied by an elderly relative.
According to canteen employees at Ambernath station, Shirke was bleeding when he got off the train, while Sharma continued to travel on it. As Shirke walked out of the station, there was blood everywhere, they said.
This forced the station master to call in the GRP over the public address system. After a brief search, a GRP officer found Shirke slumped to the ground near the ticket window, while his relative was trying to speak to him.
Railway police officers rushed Shirke to hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Doctors at the Thane Civil Hospital told Shirke’s family that his vein was severed, and the bleeding lead to his death. “How can people get away with carrying knives and attacking people on issues as trivial as seating?” Shirke’s wife Veena, who works as a domestic help, demanded to know.
Veena, who was in the hospital with both her daughters, added Shirke had been an autorickshaw driver in Ambernath for the past 25 years and was known to be a patient man who rarely lost his cool.
A GRP team spread out to nab the accused, and nabbed him on Wednesday from Karjat.
Somnath Tambe, Senior PI (Ambernath GRP), told Mirror, “The two had an altercation over seating. Sharma, the accused slashed Shirke’s wrist with a knife meant to chop onions. Sharma was a street dweller, and a tumbler and shawl recovered by the GRP were his only belongings.”
