Thane man kills brother for not returning his mobile

In a shocking instance of mobile phone rage, a 32-year old man has been charged with clobbering his elder brother to death after he refused to return his borrowed cellphone, a policewoman said on Saturday.

The incident occurred on Ganeshotsav day on Thursday (September 13) in Basse village, around 35 km from Bhiwandi town, said Padgha police officer, Meena Jaywant Shirsat.

The victim, identified as Dattatray K. Pawar, had borrowed his younger brother Santosh K. Pawar's mobile phone to call his wife who had gone to her parents' home in a nearby village.

As he continued his leisurely chat for a long time, the accused Santosh demanded his phone back from his elder brother Dattatray, but he ignored and continued to talk, said Shirsat.

This led to a heated argument and a scuffle between them and in a fit of anger, Santosh picked up a spade lying nearby and repeatedly hammered Dattatray on the head.

Dattatray collapsed in a pool of blood and succumbed to several trauma injuries soon afterwards, as some stunned neighbours raised alarm, the officer said.

Santosh rushed inside the house and prepared to flee from there, but an alert policewoman posted in the village, Vaibhavi V. Palvi, alerted the Padgha Police which rushed there a few minutes later.

"He was arrested the same evening and produced before a court on Friday. He has been remanded in police custody till September 17," said Shirsat.

The police are investigating the case.

--IANS

qn/prs