Four hanged on death!

Four get death for Nandos killings

Six years after the infamous Nandos murder case in Sindhudurg district rocked the state, the district principal and sessions judge of Sindhudurg, JN Shanbaug, on Tuesday sentenced four Mumbai youths to death for their involvement in the crime. Of the total of 10 suspects in the case four others had been convicted by the court on Monday.

The hearing continued for a record four years, during which statements of 128 witnesses were recorded. Those given capital punishment included Santosh Chavan, the kingpin, Mahesh Shinde, Yogesh Chavan and Amit Shinde — all residents of Borivili. Two suspects — Suryakant Korgaonkar and Tanaji Gavde, both residents of Sindhudurg - were acquitted by the court. The convicts have been punished under sections 302, 201, 364, 120 (B), 404, 114 of the Indian Penal Code.

“I am satisfied with the judgment,” public prosecutor Ajit Bhanage told DNA, adding that Korgaonkar and Gavde were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Santosh - a self-styled god man and a native of Sindhudurg — once used to be an auto rickshaw driver in Mumbai. To make a fast buck, he and his colleagues had lured people, promising to make their money multiply manifold by using black magic. They took them to the forest near Nandos to perform the “ritual”, robbed their money and brutally killed them. Police investigations revealed that the convicts had used pistols, iron rods and knives as murder weapons.

The case came to light after villagers at Nandos in Malvan taluka spotted 10 decomposed bodies, tied up in gunny bags, in the nearby forest area on December 20, 2003. An inquiry was carried out by the then superintendent of police Santosh Rastogi.

The victims included Shankar Sarge and Hemanth Thakre, both from Mumbai, who were killed on September 25, 2003. Vinayak Pisal from Badlapur, Vijaysinh Dudhe, Dadasaheb Chavan and Sanjay Gavare — all from Pune — were killed on October 30. The other victims, Kerubhau Mali, his wife Anita and their boys, Sanjay and Rajesh — residents of Vashi in Navi Mumbai — were murdered on November 14. Police said that in each of the cases, Rs55,000 to Rs3 lakh was robbed from the victims.

The court is hearing a related case where two others suspects — Tukaram Gavde and Chandrakant Masur, whose names figure in the original chargesheet, were suspected to be possessing illegal weapons.