Murder of minors: Cops take beer man’s blood sample

The Cuffe Parade police investigating the murder of three minor girls within their jurisdiction in the past few months collected the blood sample of ‘beer man’ Ravindra Kantrole. The sample has been sent to the forensic department for a DNA test.

The police called Kantrole to the Cuffe Parade police station on Tuesday and allowed him to go after collecting his blood sample. “So far, we have taken the blood samples of 58 criminals. After conducting a DNA test, we will match the results with those of two people whose semen has been found on two minors,” said a police officer from the Colaba police station. He said Kantrole, who lives in South Mumbai, has agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

Kantrole gained notoriety as the beer man after he was arrested in connection with a spate of murders in South Mumbai in 2007. The police alleged Kantrole would entice victims to drink beer before killing them and leave the bottle near the body. He was, however, acquitted by the high court in 2010 in two of the three cases due to lack of evidence.

Seven murders took place between October 2006 and January 2007. The Sewri fast track court convicted Kantrole for life imprisonment for allegedly murdering a man on a foot-over bridge near Marine Lines on January 11, 2007. The victim was stabbed nearly 20 times in the chest, abdomen, arms and thighs.