A leading builder from Navi Mumbai was knifed and shot dead by two assailants dressed as security guards while he was entering his office on Saturday morning at Vashi. Sunilkumar Nandpal Lohiya (55), director of SK Brothers, was shot five times and slashed in the neck.
One of the assailants was caught by locals and handed over to the police while the other managed to esc-ape. The accused broke a coconut over Kumar’s head and tried to garland his neck after shooting him.
Kumar’s family has refused to conduct his last rites over the Navi Mumbai police’s failure to take notice of several letters citing a threat to Kumar’s life. The family said they would keep the body frozen until the police arrested the seven persons earlier named by them.
Around 8.30 am on the Vashi-Koparkhairane road, Kumar got down from his car and was entering his office when the two assailants came up from behind. While one held him from the back, the other started slashing at his neck. One of them then drew a country-made revolver and shot him five times. They later broke a coconut over his head and were about to garland him but had to escape when they saw the crowd and office staff closing in.
According to the statement of Surjitsingh Kalra (42), a manager with SK Brothers, Ganpat, an office staffer, ran out of the office screaming Kumar was being attacked. “I followed him outside the office and saw our sir lying on the footpath while one of the assailants was attacking him with a weapon. Both the assailants, dressed as security personnel, then started running in the direction of Koparkhairne and one of them screamed back at us saying our sir was paying the price of locking horns with builders in Navi Mumbai. Ganpat then started throwing stones at the two, which hit one of them. He tried getting into an auto and I caught him, which led to a scuffle. He dropped his revolver while the other assailant escaped. We caught the first one,” read his statement to the police.