A 45-year-old corporator of Shiv Sena from Ambarnath municipal council was brutally killed on Friday morning by unknown assailants in Ambarnath. The assailants attacked him with sharp weapons and he succumbed to injuries in a private hospital in Kalyan. The Ambarnath police has registered a case and is further tracing the accused.
The deceased, identified as Ramesh Sahebrao Gunjal, was a resident of Moravali village in Ambarnath. He was elected as an independent corporator in the 2010 Ambarnath municipal council elections. “Later he joined the Shiv Sena party and in 2015, he got a ticket from the party and was elected again as a corporator from Ambarnath municipal council ward number 41. In between he also stood for the Vidhan Sabha election from Chalis gaon in Jalgaon, but resulted in failure,” said a police officer.
The incident took place on Friday morning at around 9 am in front of Moravali Municipal School. “Gunjal went on his motorcycle to get a shave in a saloon. He was returning home when unknown assailants attacked him with sharp weapons and fled the scene. Gunjal had a business where he used to look after civil and labor work for MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation) in Ambarnath. Due to his strong political background he had many rivals and had assigned private bodyguards to guard him. But incidentally on Friday, when he went to the saloon he was alone on his motorcycle,” said an officer from the Ambarnath police station.
After the incident members of the locality shifted Gunjal to a private hospital and later to civic hospital in Ulhasnagar. “But as he was stabbed too deeply in his neck and other body parts he was shifted to Shridevi, a private hospital in Kalyan, where he succumbed to injuries around 2.30pm,” the officer, who did not want to be named, said.
The police has registered a murder case under different sections of Indian Penal Code and Arms Act. “The people who helped in shifting Gunjal to a private hospital, were told about the attackers and their identity by Gunjal who was conscious during that time. On the basis of the information provided by the helpers, we have formed different teams and are further trying to traced the accused involved in the murder case,” said Vasant Jadhav, deputy commissioner of police, Ulhasnagar division.
