‘8 accused were not present at spot where Sonawane was burnt’

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Manmad: Eight of the 11 accused booked for burning Malegaon additional collector, Yeshwant Sonawane, were not present at the spot when the incident took place. However, the police
booked all of them for murder, officials from Manmad told TOI .

Sonawane was set on fire by prime accused Popat Shinde at Panewadi area near Manmad on January 25. Sonawane died on the spot while Shinde, who also suffered burn injuries, died on January 31 at J J Hospital. The police had earlier booked all the accused under the Essential Commodities Act as well as for murder under the Indian Penal Code. On February 11, the police invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused.

Inspector Rafique Shaikh, in charge of the Manmad police station, said, “When Shinde set Sonawane ablaze, his 17-year-old son Kunal and an employee Rajeev Shirsat were also present at the spot. The other accused were not at the scene of crime.” This statement is significant as the police have booked 11 persons for the murder. Shaikh said, “That day, a tanker driver Haqqani Khan (49) and his son Imran (20) had stopped at Sagar Dhaba (where the murder took place) while a truck driver, Tauseef Khan, had purchased pilfered kerosene from the dhaba. Soon after Sonawane arrived there and questioned them, the three fled.”
This statement corroborates the on given by Kunal.

The teenager, who is lodged at the Nashik juvenile remand home, told his family that when he and Shinde reached the spot on January 25 afternoon, Sonawane’s driver Kailash Gawli and PA Rajendera Kale were standing outside the dhaba while Sonawane was waiting for Shinde behind the eatery. “Shirsat was also there at the dhaba,” Kunal told his family members. He added that following an argument, Sonawane manhandled his father who then set Sonawane on fire.

Drive against oil mafia slackens
Tmafia he special is showing drive against signs of the oil slackening. While 2,842 raids/searches were carried out between January 28 and February 1; this reduced to 1,695 between February 2 and 5. Oil worth Rs 1.73 crore was seized in the first five days of the drive. From February 2 to 5, oil worth over just Rs 63 lakh was seized. The number of cases registered declined from 225 to 109. TNN


The Times of India, February 13, 2011