2 held for abetting minors’ suicide bid

Three days after two minor boys jumped off the Vashi bridge into the creek, leading to the death of one boy, the Wadala police has arrested two people for allegedly abetting their suicide.

The arrested accused have been identified as Pushkar Mhatre (25) and Abhijit More (25). They have been booked under sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 324 (causing hurt) of the IPC and placed under police custody. The police is on the lookout for three other accused who were involved.

On Wednesday night, residents of Wadala, Nikhil Gaddam (16) and Ruthik Patekar (17) were accosted by certain residents of MbPT Colony for smoking in the area. Two female friends, who stay in the same area, accompanied the two teenagers. The residents allegedly forced the minors to hand over their phones and even took one of the girls to the police station and told the boys to get their parents to the station if they wanted their phones back. The boys, who had been previously pulled up by their parents for smoking after their professor had caught them on a school picnic, were terrified.

Thinking of an escape route, the boys allegedly hatched a plan to kill themselves and, with this intention, boarded a train from Wadala and Vashi and jumped off the bridge into the creek. While Nikhil survived after he was trapped in a marshy area of the creek, Ruthik drowned and rescuers found his body on Thursday.

After the family alleged inaction on the part of the Wadala police, it registered an FIR against the unidentified assailants. By Thursday, the police with the help of the boys’ family members started piecing the case together and traced one of the girls who was with the teenagers when they were beaten up by accused. “We have recorded her statement and that matches with the statement of the survivor. We are now on the lookout for the other men who were involved,” said Parshuram Karyakarte, senior police inspector, Wadala police station.