Illegal quarry murder: Three main accused arrested

Vasai: The police have arrested the main three accused in the murder of Atmaram Patil (52) at an illegal quarry, said the police on Friday. The three accused, a father and his two sons, are the quarry owners.

A revenue officer and his driver were also assaulted at the quarry.

On the day of the murder, the father, Bhalchandra Patil, was arrested. Later his two sons, Pratap and Mahesh, were arrested from different locations. “We are accessing CCTV footage of different locations and have formed teams to nab the remaining accused”, said an official.

Two accused are still on the run and the police are working on identifying more people who might be behind the attack.

Atmaram Patil was the Virar head of the Loktantrik Lok Rajyam Party and was sent to the quarry to show the site of illegal stone mining on Tuesday afternoon to revenue officer Prabhakar Patil. Prabhakar. When Atmaram and Prabhakar reached the site in the latter’s car, they and the driver were dragged out of the car and assaulted with iron rods and bamboo and wooden logs. Atmaram was later crushed to death with stones.

The police said all three arrested men were produced before court and remanded in police custody till May 19.