People watch as jilted lover bludgeons woman to death on road in Maharashtra

Palghar (Maharashtra): A jilted lover struck 18 blows on the head of his girlfriend with a spanner, killing her on a road in Vasai on Friday, even as scores of people watched the gory spectacle, police said.

"The accused attacked the woman with an industrial spanner. There were 18 wounds on her body," senior inspector Jairaj Ranaware of Valiv police station said.

The man, Rohit Yadav (32) and the woman Arati Yadav (22) were neighbours and in a relationship for the last few years, police said. Of late, she had stopped contact with him, and he suspected that she was having an affair with someone else.

“Kyun kiya aisa mere saath (why did you do this to me)," the man kept saying as he continued to hit her lifeless body with the spanner. Except for a person who ventured out to intervene, the scores of bystanders remained mute spectators.

CCTV footage of the incident shows a large crowd watching the attack, but no one intervening to help the woman as the man repeatedly struck her head with the spanner, police said.

The Valiv police have registered a murder case and arrested the accused.

A video of the attack that took place around 8.30 am in the Chinchpada locality of Vasai surfaced on social media.

The victim and the man lived in the same neighbourhood and worked at an industrial estate, police said.

On Friday morning, she was on her way to work when the assailant accosted her and began attacking her after a quarrel, an official said.

The man continued to attack her even after she collapsed on the road. He did not flee the scene and sat near the body, the official said.

A team from the Valiv police rushed to the spot and sent the body for a post-mortem.

Police have also detained a man and a woman who shot videos of the attack and uploaded them on social media.

Arati Yadav’s sister claimed her family had complained to police about the man beating up the victim on Saturday but the cops did not register their complaint.

Speaking to media, she said the man had previously attempted to attack her sister.

The family had approached the police, who made us wait for hours and then informed us that the man would not cause any further harm, she said.

She said she had gone to the Achole police station along with her sister on Saturday night to complaint about the accused as he had threatened the victim and also broken her mobile phone.

"The police just registered a non-cognisable offence and pretended that they were taking action against the accused and let him go. This inaction of the police ultimately led to the murder of my sister," she said.

She accused the police of taking money from the accused.

Reacting to the allegations, senior inspector at Achole police station, Balasaheb Pawar, told media persons that the two sisters had approached them on June 8 night for lodging a complaint against the accused who had broken the mobile of the victim.

"The police promptly registered a complaint and called for the accused and took appropriate action on him. There was no lapse on the part of the police in dealing in the case," he said.

Video footage of the incident went viral on social media, prompting indignation from the public and people’s representatives.

Maharashtra Legislative Council deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe said there is a need to implement the "zero tolerance for crimes against women" policy.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare said the reason why nobody came forward to stop the attacker may have something to do with their apprehension of “making rounds of the police station” as witnesses.