Man, son arrested for bid to murder two persons after quarrel in Thane

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Police on Sunday arrested a 44-year-old man and his son, both street vendors, for allegedly trying to kill two persons following a quarrel over a banana in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said, reported news agency PTI.

A 27-year-old man, who is a mandap decorator, and his friend purchased a dozen bananas from the vendors in Bhiwandi town on Saturday and made the payment for it.

However, the man's friend later picked up an extra banana from the vendors' basket which led to a quarrel between the two sides, the official from Narpoli police station said, reported PTI.

The person who picked up the banana offered to pay for it, but the argument escalated following which the two vendors allegedly thrashed the two men with iron rods and threatened them with dire consequences if they were seen there again, he said, reported PTI.

Based on a complaint by one of the victims, the police registered an FIR against the two vendors late Saturday night under Indian Penal Code sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention).

Both the accused were arrested on Sunday, the police added.

In another incident, a case has been registered against an unidentified person for allegedly raping a woman after rendering her unconscious onboard an express train in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official from the Government Railway Police (GRP) said on Friday, reported PTI.

The Thane GRP on Thursday registered a case under sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence) and 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code for the incident that took place in March, senior inspector Archana Dhusane said, reported PTI.

The victim has alleged that she was travelling by Uttar Pradesh-bound Tulsi Express on March 10 when an unidentified person administered a harmful substance to render her unconscious and raped her, the official said, reported PTI.

The woman has claimed that the assault took place 40 minutes after the train left the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla in neighbouring Mumbai and arrived at Thane railway station, she said, reported PTI.

The complainant approached the GRP in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, in April, 39 days after the alleged incident, and from there, the complaint was forwarded to Thane after 21 days, she said, reported PTI.

As no CCTV footage was available from LTT, the police checked the reservation charts of Tulsi Express and two other trains that left the station at the same time, the official said.

The police were examining the mobile phone call records and gathering technical evidence, she said.

(With inputs from PTI)