A 24-year-old man was allegedly abducted and burnt to death after an altercation with a group over urinating outside a bar in a suburb in Pune on Tuesday, police have said.

Pimpri-Chinchwad Police have booked four men and detained one for allegedly killing the man. The charred remains of Hitesh Mulchandani, a resident of Pimpri, were found in an open ground near Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Tuesday morning.

The five men booked in the case have been identified as Amin Feroz Khan, a resident of Gunjpeth, Shahbaz Seraj Qureshi from Kasarwadi, Arabaz Shaikh from Khadki, Akshay Sanjay Bhosale from Sangvi and a man identified only as Langda.

Mulchandani was a friend of Kunal Bar and Restaurant’s owner Rohit Sukheja, who lodged a complaint with the police. The incident took place outside the bar in Radhika Chowk area of Pimpri.

According to the complaint, Mulchandani was at the bar with a friend when Khan turned up at 2am to buy alcohol. Khan then went out to urinate in front of the bar. When Sukheja and a few others tried to stop him, an altercation broke out.

The five verbally abused a man named Sahil Lalwani and broke a beer bottle on the head of another person identified as Kailas Patil. As the fight turned violent, the five shoved Mulchandani into a white car and drove away.

Mulchandani’s charred body was discovered later, stated the police.

“We got to know through his (Mulchandani’s) friends who told us that he had been picked up by the assailants. He was friends with the bar owner and was there with him when the incident happened,” inspector (crime) Ranganath Unde of Pimpri Police, who is investigating the case, said.

A case under sections 302 (murder), 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 504 (insult with an intention of provoking breach of peace) , 201 (destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered against the five at Pimpri police station.

First Published: Jul 24, 2019 09:54 IST

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