Mumbai: Police have arrested five people, including a woman, after a 20-year-old man was stabbed to death in a clash between two groups over bursting firecrackers in central Mumbai on Friday morning. Vivek Gupta died during the clash in the Antop Hill area, they said. Five people have been detained in connection with the murder and a search is on for other accused, the official said. It all started when a group of residents were bursting firecrackers in a narrow lane in Jai Maharashtra Nagar in Kokri Agar after midnight on Thursday. The accused, Karthik R Mohan Devendra, who was passing by on a two-wheeler, asked the group to move to a secluded spot. However, some members of the group allegedly thrashed him. Devendra then left the spot, the official said, citing the FIR.
After some time, Devendra returned to the lane with his wife, brother and some others carrying wooden sticks and cricket bats and a heated argument ensued between the two groups. Amid the commotion, one of the people bursting crackers took out a knife. As the scuffle continued, the knife slipped from his hand and fell on the ground. Raj Putti, who was accompanying Devendra, picked up a sharp weapon and stabbed Gupta multiple times. Police reached the spot after being informed by locals and took Gupta to a government hospital where he died during treatment, the official said. Police detained five people from the spot, identified as Karthik R Mohan Devendra, Karthik Kumar Devendra, Vicky Muttu Devendra, Miniappan Ravi Devendra and Karthik’s wife, the official said. Police are searching for other accused, he said. Antop Hill police registered a case under murder and other charges under the Indian Penal Code (BNS) and arrested five people after interrogation, he said. Police are trying to nab additional accused with the help of technical analysis and footage from CCTV cameras installed in the area, he said.
