July 18: The Turbhe police have arrested three persons who clubbed a man to death near Vashi, Navi Mumbai recently. The accused, Prahlad Datta Koli, Ratnadeep Tulsiram Koli and Nilesh Eknath Deokar were produced in the Vashi court yesterday and have been remanded to police custody for 21 days.

Eknath Mangalya Deokar, the victim, had been married to Baby Bai for the past 20 years and had two children. Following a dispute, Baby Bai left her husband and went to live with her parents in the same village. According to the police, Eknath used to visit her in a drunken state everyday and create a scene, asking her to come back. He would also abuse her and her relatives.

Tired of the daily quarrels, the three accused, who were related to Baby Bai, decided to kill Eknath. Acting according to plans made earlier, they took Eknath to a creek near the village and clubbed him to death using wooden sticks.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.