Nashik: The aide of an additional district collector burnt alive said on Wednesday, his boss had recorded on his mobile phone the pilfering of kerosene which was detected by him leading to his killing by suspected members of a local oil
mafia.
Raju Kale, an eyewitness to yesterday`s gruesome attack
on 42-year-old Yashwant Sonawane at Panewadi town in Manmad in
Nashik district, about 260 KM from Mumbai, also said the
official was attacked by some men who came on motorcycles.
There were seven to eight men at the scene of the attack, he
said.
Kale said he and Sonawane saw the driver of a fuel tanker
taking out kerosene in two box shaped containers and
transferring it to another truck. Kale is Sonawane`s personal
assistant.
"Sir captured the entire thing on his mobile," he said.
Both Kale and the Malegaon`s additional district
collectors` official driver Kailash Gawali managed to flee
from the scene of the crime in Nashik district.
The state bureaucrat was burnt alive in broad daylight
at a roadside eat out by suspected members of local oil mafia
while detecting pilfering of kerosene oil from a tanker.
Kale said the phone is in the possession of the police
department.
Asked whether he recognised the people who attacked
Sonawane, Kale said " I was talking on the phone when the
incident happened, Their backs were towards me."
Recalling the sequence of events, Kale said they were on
the way to Manmad from Nashik when Sonawane asked his driver
to stop where a kerosene tanker was in a stationary position.
"Then he asked the driver to go near the tanker from
behind. Then we all got down from the car. Then, he (Sonawane)
saw the driver(of tanker) taking out kerosene in two boxes and
they were putting it in another truck," Kale said.
Kale said the official was waiting for some force to
arrive when he was attacked.
"He Sonawane) stood under a tree and was talking to
somebody on the phone. Then I called our ASI in Manmad but I
couldn`t get through to him and so I kept trying," he said.
Kale said that in the meantime there were was no
movement on the other side and suspected something had gone
amiss.
"Then two people came on a motorcycle. These two people
asked if Yashwant Sonawane has come. Then (our)driver saw
something amiss under the tree and he came running towards me
to tell me. Then he said the men were coming towards us with a
drum of kerosene," he added.
"Then I started running and those guys started running
behind us with kerosene. We ran to our car and drove to find
help," he said.
Kale said he can recognise the face of the driver of the
tanker and its cleaner but not the people who came on the
motorcycles.
PTI
