5 held for Ghatkopar family's murder

MUMBAI: The Ghatkopar police have arrested five men in connection with the triple murder on January 19.
Two members of the Mehta family and the watchman of their Mamta Housing Society in Gilada Nagar, Ghatkopar (W), were murdered by burglars around 2.30 a.m. A third family member succumbed to head injuries later in hospital.
Announcing the arrests at a press conference here on Monday, police commissioner Ranjit Sharma said the police had also recovered gold jewellery valued at Rs 1.44 lakh from the accused who were picked up from Kalwa near Thane.
Those arrested are Chandya Pawar (35), a native of Gangakhed in Parbhani district, Ashok Appa Chavan (38), who hails from Jalna district, Ijabul Shaikh (23), Manoj Gupta (19) and Kanthalya Chavan (22).
Shaikh is a native of Sahebganj district in Bihar, Gupta hails from Sitamarhi district in Uttar Pradesh while Kanthalya belongs to Jalna district.
Shaikh lived at Masjid Bunder while the others lived in the Atkoneshwar Nagar in Kalwa. All have previous criminal record, Mr Sharma said. Two more persons are wanted in the case.
Mr Sharma said Chandya and Ashok had made discreet inquiries about the Mehtas when the two visited the building around 5 p.m. on January 18.
The Mehtas who were away had returned to their residence only on January 18.