Three more suspects were arrested today in connection with the murder of BJP local leader Vasant Patil early this week in suburban Bhandup, with police saying personal enmity was the motive behind the killing.
"Today three more accused, including Baban's son were arrested," said Himanshu Roy, Joint Police Commissioner of the Crime Branch, which conducted a parallel probe in the case.
Acting on a tip off, the accused, who was identified as Sagar Khopade (21), a worker with the city's civic body, his friends Nitin Khilari (23) and Santosh Nimangare (22) were nabbed from the Mulund checkpost, police said.
On Monday, BJP ward 106 president Vasant Patil (55), who was also known as an RTI activist, was stabbed as many as 31 times at his residence in Jai Bhavani Chawl. Patil was rushed to Rajawadi Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The same day, Bhandup police had arrested Baban Khopade (52), who claimed to be a Congress party member involved in the construction business, police said.
However, Patil's family had alleged that there could be more than mere personal enmity behind his murder.
Nitin is pursuing computer engineering, while Santosh is a mechanical engineering dropout, police said, adding that the two had an attempt to dacoity case registered against them earlier.
According to the Crime Branch, Baban has been in the construction business and built illegal structures. Baban's irregularities had been highlighted by murder victim Vasant Patil, who had brought these to the attention of the city civic body as well as the district collectorate office.
"Patil had also filed a number of RTI applications to uncover Baban's illegal activities. The two had a number of arguments over various issues earlier," another officer said.
