27-year-old arrested for attacking friends with hammer, killing one in Rabale

Rabale MIDC police have arrested a 27-year-old man who attacked his three friends with a hammer after they stopped him from joining a garba dance in a drunken state.

In the attack, one of them died. The accused, identified as Jitendra Patwa, along with his friends Akash Jaiswal (26), Abhishek Bhalerao (28) and Rashid Khan (25), stayed together in the slums in Rabale MIDC area and worked as daily wagers.

On Tuesday night, the trio consumed alcohol in their hut and later went for a walk when they noticed a Garba Pandal wherein people were dancing. Patwa showed his desire to join the group for a dance to which his friends objected as he was drunk.

“The friends thought that being drunk, he might cause nuisance in the pandal and all would get kicked out and hence stopped him from going. But, the next morning, he attacked his friends, killing one,” said senior police inspector Sudhir Patil from Rabale MIDC police station.

On Wednesday morning, when the accused woke up, he felt angered and started hitting his friends with a hammer. While Jaiswal died on the spot, the other two were injured and taken to a hospital after which Patwa was arrested. All four friends originally hailed from Uttar Pradesh.

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