Mumbai:
Nine people, arrested in connection with bludgeoning Class XI student Ansh Agarwal to death in Mumbai, have been sent to police custody till April 25. The other three arrested, who are minors, have been sent to juvenile custody.
According to the police, 16-year-old Ansh was beaten up by around 30 boys from his college because he objected to a lewd SMS that the main accused in the case sent to his girlfriend. Police say the main accused and Ansh were from the same tuition class.
On Tuesday evening, the boys landed up at Ansh's house and when his father - a wealthy businessman - said Ansh was out, they asked his elder brother, 19-year-old Akarsh, to come down for a chat. Outside the building they kidnapped him.
Ansh was then told to come to a particular place where the boys were waiting for him. He was then beaten up and later succumbed to his injuries.
Recalling the incident, his brother says only one person came forward to help his brother.
"It is like the Keenan-Reuben case. Thirty people assaulted me and then Ansh followed me and was beaten up. They chased Ansh and beat him. They then smashed his face with a pavement stone block. This happened at around 10.30pm on Tuesday and only one person came to help me take Ansh to hospital, but I knew he was dead," said Akarsh.
"He (the main accused) had sent an SMS to a female friend and Ansh told him not to bother her, they had a tussle over this. Later, Ansh apologised to the main accused and asked him to end it here saying it's a trivial matter," Akarsh added.
Ansh's family is in deep shock after the incident. "Nobody came to help them. This is Mumbai, not a village," said his sister Harshi.
Suhas Warke, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, said the police have arrested them on charges of murder, unlawful assembly and rioting.
Ansh's murder is almost a replay of the horrific murders of Keenan and Ruben - young men who were killed in front of a crowded bar for putting up a fight against a gang misbehaving with their girlfriends.
Ansh's murderers, however, were not gangsters; they were educated, young men from well-off families. But their brutality and lust for bloody revenge is inexplicable.
And their open attack on a busy Mumbai road is holding up a mirror once again to Mumbai's apathy.