Thane (Maharashtra) [India], October 1 (ANI): The family of local Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Pradeep Purnekar, who was shot dead by an unidentified assailant, has demanded justice in the incident from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Speaking to ANI, Purnekar's father-in-law, Sanjay Khangde, on Wednesday said, "I would simply say that we deserve justice. I would appeal to Fadnavis-sahab and Eknath-ji Shinde. There is so much crime happening these days. Even boys as young as 15 or 16 are roaming around carrying knives and daggers."
"I also insist that justice must be served; those responsible for this incident must be punished. I make this request to Devendra Fadnavis ji and Eknath Shinde saheb, and I hope to see an improvement regarding crime in the future," he added.
Recalling how he learnt of the incident, Khangde said, "Yesterday at 10:00 AM, I received a call from my daughter. She told me that he was attacked. That is how I found out. About 10 or 15 minutes later, I saw the news confirming that Pradeep ji had passed away. I have been with my daughter and his family since then."
He also made an appeal to youngsters in the community. "If these accused end up in jail, their families will suffer immensely. I urge all the young men in our community, those aged 18 to 22, to resolve any conflicts quickly and peacefully," he said.
Purnekar, a local Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Thane’s Manpada area on Tuesday night.
His brother Jainath said the family would not perform the last rites until the accused were arrested. "The last rites will be performed when the culprits are caught. Until they are caught, we will not," he said.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut called the killing unfortunate and described Purnekar as a “staunch and loyal Shiv Sainik”. He questioned the law-and-order situation in Thane and demanded action against the police administration.
Raut alleged that Purnekar had been involved in a political conflict with Meenakshi Shinde following an election defeat and had raised issues concerning the builder lobby and cluster development. He further alleged that Purnekar had complained against a drug racket.
“Purnekar was engaged in a political conflict with Meenakshi Shinde following the election defeat. He was fighting against the builder lobby and issues related to the cluster development scheme. The Shinde faction supported a drug racket, against which Purnekar had lodged complaints,” Raut said.
An eyewitness to the incident, Renu Prajapati, said she was stitching blouses at her shop located next to Purnekar’s office when she heard the sounds.
“Next to Dada's office is my shop, so I was stitching blouses, at that time I heard loud thud sound twice, so I felt that a short circuit had happened,” Prajapati said.
She said she opened the gate of her shop and looked towards the place from where the sounds had come.
“So I opened my gate, removed the counter, and saw above where the sound came from, where the short circuit was happening. So I saw that 4 to 5 people came out from Dada's office,” she said.
Believing that a short circuit had occurred, Prajapati said she immediately called her daughter, who was doing her homework, and took her outside.“I was calling my daughter, ‘Beta run away, run away outside.’ My daughter was doing her homework. So I thought a short circuit had happened, for this everyone is running away, going out,” she said.
Prajapati said she later noticed a person handling what appeared to be a knife and, fearing for her safety, ran away with her daughter.
"Then I took my daughter and ran away from there, took my daughter and ran forward, till then those people went away sitting on a motorcycle, activa,” she said.
She recalled that she initially did not realise the gravity of the incident until she heard people shouting “Balu dada”.
“Then when I looked down, my attention... this attention went, so I am seeing whole blood is poured,” Prajapati said, describing how she became dizzy and began trembling after seeing the blood.
She said she could not clearly see Purnekar or the person who was helping him after the incident.“I did not see Balu dada, and who was the person lifting him, that also I did not see,” she said.
Police have launched an investigation to identify the attackers and ascertain the motive behind the killing. (ANI)
“We deserve justice”: Father-in-law of slain Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Purnekar appeals to CM Fadnavis, DyCM Shinde
