Manoj Mhatre was shot dead by assailants late on Tuesday night.
A day after the alleged murder of Congress corporator in Bhiwandi civic body, police booked eight persons on Wednesday, including the cousin of the deceased, in connection with the case. According to police, political rivalry was the motive behind the murder.
Manoj Mhatre, a corporator and leader of the party in Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) was fatally attacked with sharp weapons and fired at from point blank range around 9.30 PM on Tuesday outside his residence at Oswalwadi in Bhiwandi, police said. "Manoj's cousin Prashant Mhatre had allegedly planned the murder as he wanted to get the party ticket from the deceased's ward for the upcoming Bhiwandi municipal polls," Ashutosh Dumbre, Joint Commissioner of Police, Thane said.
Besides Prashant, Narpoli police have booked Chiranjeev alias Motu Baliram Mhatre, Mithun Mhatre, Mahesh Mhatre, Sujit alias Bandya Mhatre, Ganesh Patil and Mayur alias Coco Mhatre. "The accused include Manoj Mhatre's car driver and two attackers. No arrest has been made so far and four teams have been formed to nab the accused," an IPS officer said.
According to Dumbre, Prashant wanted to contest the upcoming Bhiwandi civic body elections as a Congress candidate from the ward, where Manoj was a sitting corporator. In the past, Prashant's father was a corporator from that ward and had strong rapport with local people, he said adding, "In the 2007 municipal corporation polls, Prashant's father had insisted Manoj to fight the civic polls as a Congress candidate as he did not want to be in the fray due to old age. Manoj had won that election and was becoming popular in the area."
"Before the 2012 Bhiwandi civic elections, Prashant had asked Manoj to stay away saying it was his claim to fight the polls. However, Manoj had succeeded in getting the party ticket from the same ward again," Dumbre added.
In 2014, Manoj was attacked by unidentified people, but survived the attempt on his life, he said. Last night, the incident took place when Mhatre's driver was parking the car and Manoj got down from the vehicle and was about to reach his home. One of the attackers came from behind and fired three bullets at point blank range and others attacked with sickles. His hand was also chopped off. After making sure that he was dead, attackers fled away.
Mhatre was rushed to a private hospital in Thane, where he was declared brought dead. His body was sent to state run JJ hospital for postmortem, police said adding that his final rites were performed this afternoon. Police went through the footages of CCTV cameras, which captured the whole incident. The crime branch of Thane Police has also started a parallel investigation into the case, police said.
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