Life sentence for auto driver

MUMBAI, July 28: A row over children playing in a parked autorickshaw led to a cold-blooded murder three years ago. Deepak Baliram Sarpate,...

MUMBAI, July 28: A row over children playing in a parked autorickshaw led to a cold-blooded murder three years ago. Deepak Baliram Sarpate, the auto driver, was today sentenced to life imprisonment by additional sessions judge of the City Civil and Sessions Court R S Dave for murdering his neighbour Hari Namdeo Manvatkar.

Investigation officer police sub inspector Dinesh Agarwal, then attached to the Kandivali police station, said Manvatkar’s children were found tampering with Sarpate’s autorickshaw. Two months before the murder, altercations between the two broke out over the small incident. Deepak was joined by his brother Baban. Sarpate then filed a non-cognizable complaint with police.Later, Manvatkar assaulted Sarpate’s father in public which angered Deepak. However, Sarpate had a problem as the Manvatkar brothers were physically stronger.

Deepak chose an isolated spot to seek revenge. It was to be the new domestic terminal complex at Santacruz where Manvatkar worked as a loader at the airport.

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Armed with a knife, Sarpate reached the airport on March 31, 1994. He confronted Manvatkar and stabbed him eight times before he was spotted by three police constables and a police driver who rushed to him.

Sarpate was so engrossed in plunging his knife that he did not notice the arrival of the police. When he realised that the constables Krishna Mohite, Gawde, Ashok Pawar and driver Abdul Gani Ishak Shaikh had caught him he begged them to leave him. “Leave me, let me stab him once more and then I will surrender.” Manvatkar succumbed to stab wounds a few days later.

Deepak Sarpate had asked the judge to be lenient toward him while pronouncing his verdict. He informed that he was the sole bread winner for his family of a mentally disturbed father, mother and two sisters.

The judge, however,pronounced life imprisonment for the murderer. Nitin Shejal appeared for the accused while Geeta Vaivude appeared for the State.