35-year-old killed in drunken brawl

MUMBAI: A 35-year-old man was allegedly killed by his friend after he made derogatory remmarks about his wife in Tilak Nagar area early on Friday morning. The accused, Deepak Kharpe, 29, is a fish stall owner and often visited the shop to help his mother and thus always carried a sickle with him. At the time of the incident, he had a sickle in his hand, and in a fit of rage he attacked the victim more than 20 times and killed him.

According to the police, the deceased, Bhimsen Bhalerao, and Kharpe had known each other since their childhood as they had grown up in the Tilak Nagar area. Bhalerao shifted to Nerul in Navi Mumbai but his parents still lived in Tilak Nagar. Kharpe’s mother runs a fish stall in the locality apart from helping her mother he also worked as a caretaker for patients at their homes. “Bhalerao used to work in a private bank. but due to his drinking habit, he was dismissed from service a few months ago. He was currently unemployed,” said a police officer.

The officer said that they met on Thursday night and drank alcohol at a bar, then bought more from a wine shop and continued drinking on the road near a skywalk. During the drinking session, Bhalerao made offensive remarks about the accused’s wife, leading to a confrontation where the accused attacked Bhalerao with a sickle and fled. The incident happened around 2am on Friday, and the police were alerted around 5am when Bhalerao was found injured.

“The Tilak Nagar police have arrested the accused from the vicinity and a murder case was registered against him under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. He will be produced in the court on Saturday,” said deputy commissioner of police Hemraj Rajput of zone 6. Kharpe was brought to the police station and during interrogation he confessed to the crime.