A BJP civic ward president-cum-RTI activist was brutally stabbed to death by some unidentified assailants at his residence at Bhandup in north-east Mumbai, in the early hours of Mumbai.
Vasant Patil (55) was stabbed as many as 28 times by his political rivals with a sharp weapon, when he was in his house at Jai Bhavani Chawl at Bhandup. His wife Maya Patil was away from home, when the crime took place at 3 am. Maya Patil, wife of slain BJP worker, told the police that she did not see the killers but found her husband lying in a pool of blood. “Someone had attacked him with a scythe. He had two big cuts on his neck, and stomach. By the time, I heard the commotion and rushed to the door, they had attacked him and fled,” she said.
The injured Vasant Patil was rushed to civic Rajawadi Hospital at suburban Ghatkopar where he was declared brought dead. Meanwhile, the Bhandup police arrested one Baban Tukaram Khopade (52), who allegedly nursed personal enmity with the slain BJP activist, from his hideout. Khopade is reportedly a member of the Congress. The police suspect that more than one person was involved in the incident.
local residents said Patil was one of the most active BJP workers in the locality. He had received threats in the past for his RTI campaign to save forest land in the Bhandup hillock. Despite the threats, Patil was continuing with his campaign. Quoting the local residents, the local police said that there was a heated argument between Patil and Khopade on Sunday - a squabble that allegedly prompted the latter to attack the BJP activist with a sharp weapon.
Within hours after the incident, the Mumbai BJP took up the issue with the State Government. Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar, an MlC, raised the issue through a calling attention motion in the Maharashtra legislative Council. Shelar and leader of the Opposition in the legislative Council of the BJP, later led a BJP delegation to State Home Minister RR Patil, who assured the two leaders that the State Government would hand over the investigations to the city crime branch. “The incident was an attack on a whistle-blower. Patil was engaged in a RTI campaign for the past year to stop encroachment on government land at Bhandup. The state Government is not serious about providing protection to whistle blowers,” Shelar said.