Nagpur: Investigation into the death of Manoj Bengali Banjare, a ragpicker in Nagpur, has taken altogether a new turn with the arrest of two youths, Ashish alias Lalla Rajan Tiwari and Rinku Ujagarsingh Rajput, by Wathoda Police on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
Manoj’s body was found with head injuries on a platform in front of Agrawal Kirana Stores’ godown at Prajapati Chowk on Wednesday morning. Initially, a case of accidental death was registered by police. Later, the probe revealed that the accused Ashish Tiwari (26) and Rinku Rajput (26), both residents of Prajapati Nagar, were involved in stealing iron objects and selling them to scrap dealers. They used the money from these transactions to buy liquor.
In the small hours of Wednesday, the duo climbed an under-construction Metro bridge to steal iron objects. They collected sharp-edged iron blocks, and threw them off the bridge. One of the iron pieces hit Manoj, who was sleeping on the platform, causing him fatal head injuries. He succumbed to his injuries within minutes.
The Senior Inspector (Wathoda) Harish Borade confirmed that it was not a murder. After the arrest of accused Ashish Tiwari and Rinku Rajput, police interrogated them and recorded the statements of some eye-witnesses before registering a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against them, he added.
It’s learnt that Tiwari, who earlier worked as driver, was engaged as a security guard at the construction site of Maha Metro, said police. Tiwari was involved in stealing scrap from the construction site. He had teamed up with Rajput for making some fast cash by stealing scrap.
Police said Tiwari and Rajput would first hurl down the stolen scrap from the overbridge and then collect the scrap from a location under the bridge and dispose of it later. In one such incident when they were hurling down the stolen scrap one iron material landed on Banjara’s scalp leading to his death. Tiwari and Rajput were detained by police on the basis of information but later arrested after they admitted to the incident.
