Sena worker's murder: Five get life imprisonment

A district court in Thane awarded life imprisonment to five persons today for killing Sanjay Rokade, a Shiv Sena worker, in the city in 2014.
District and Sessions Judge P R Kadam also directed the Maharashtra director general of police (DGP) to initiate a departmental inquiry against former investigating officer (IO), who is now retired, for carrying out "improper" probe into the case.
Pronouncing the sentence in a packed courtroom, the judge held Mangesh Devidas Jadhav, Manish Devidas Jadhav, Nilesh Khandu Katate, Manoj Jairam Sonawane and Ganesh Narayan Devadiga, guilty under the Indian Penal Code Section 302 (murder) and others.

The court also imposed fines of varying amounts on them.
The prosecution told the court that the accused had brutally killed Rokade in the city's Naupada locality on July 22, 2014.
According to police, the victim was with his friend when he was attacked by the accused, who later fled the scene. The murder was the fall-out of a gang rivalry.

Rokade was part of a gang, which operated from the Tekdi Bangla area. Both the gangs had confronted each other on several occasions.
The judge said, "The investigating officer (IO) did not carry out the probe into the case properly. Therefore, the director general of police (DGP) should initiate a departmental inquiry against him and take suitable action."

"Even if he (IO) is retired, the DGP should act on the directions against the retired police officers," the judge noted.