Nashik: A district and sessions court in Nashik has sentenced two men to life imprisonment in connection with the murder of a garage owner in November 2020.
The court of J M Dalvi found Roshan Kotkar (25) and Chandrakant Labhde (24) guilty of killing Ramchandra Nishad (37) inside his garage along the Wadala–Pathardi Road on the night of November 11–12, 2020. The court also imposed a fine of ₹5,000 on each convict.
Nishad was found lying in a pool of blood in his garage on November 12 by one of his employees who had come to work. Following the discovery, Indiranagar police station registered a murder case against unknown persons.
During the investigation, police noted that a car was missing from the garage, suggesting the assailants had fled in the vehicle after the crime. The car was later recovered abandoned at Madsangvi. Acting on various leads, a team led by PI Nilesh Mainkar arrested Kotkar and Labhde.
Assistant public prosecutor Sachin Gorwadkar told the court that Kotkar, who worked at Nishad’s garage, was angry after being paid ₹500 less as Diwali salary. Enraged, he allegedly conspired with his friend Labhde to kill Nishad. The two carried out the attack by striking Nishad on the head with a blunt object.
Investigators also established that Kotkar had made multiple calls to Nishad on the day of the murder. Blood-stained clothes and the weapon recovered from Kotkar matched Nishad’s blood group, the prosecution said, clinching evidence of their involvement.
