Deceased political workers
The Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra witnessed four political murders in the last 20 days, raising doubts if this was just a co-incidence or hints at any conspiracy.
Two workers of the NCP were shot dead by three unidentified men in Ahmednagar on April 28, barely three weeks after two local Shiv Sena leaders were killed in a similar manner in the district.
The incident on Saturday happened when the NCP workers were standing on the main road of Jamkhed town and three bike-borne assailants fired about eight rounds on them at 6:20 pm.
Residents of Jamkhed, the deceased were identified as Yogesh Ambadas Ralebhat (30), the district vice president of the NCP's youth wing, and Rakesh Arjun Ralebhat (23), an executive committee member and office-bearer of the party's Jamkhed unit in Ahmednagar.
No arrest has been made so far in connection with the killings, police said, adding that a case under relevant sections was registered.
The police have however said that the killings appear to be that linked to personal enmity and not political conspiracy.
On April 7, two motorcycle-borne assailants had shot dead two local Shiv Sena leaders at Shahunagar in Ahmednagar's Kedgaon after the result of a civic bypoll in the area was announced.
The incident happened at around 5:15 pm in the Shahunagar area of Kedgaon here and commercial establishments downed shutters soon amidst stray cases of stone-pelting.
"Sanjay Kotkar (35) and Vasant Anand Thube (40) were killed after they were shot from point blank range by two men on a motorcycle," a police official had said.
A local Shiv Sena leader said that the incident was related to the largescale support the Sena had received in the civic bypoll for Ward 32 (Kedgaon) of the Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation.
"Leaders of some other parties have planned these murders due to the widespread support the Sena received in the Kedgaon bypoll," Dilip Satpute, the party's Ahmednagar unit chief said.
The murders raise several doubts and suspicion because of the similar nature of the killings. Was there any political motive behind the killings or was it just personal enmity, is being probed by the police.
