NCP runner-up & her husband among 8 held for killing Khopoli councillor’s husband | Mumbai News

Raigad: Raigad police have arrested eight accused in the murder case of former Khopoli councillor Mangesh Kalokhe (45), husband of the newly elected Shiv Sena Khopoli councillor Manasi Kalokhe. The arrested accused include Manasi Kalokhe’s rival from the NCP, Urmila Devkar, who lost the Khopoli municipal council election by around 700 votes, her husband Ravindra, and their sons Dhanesh and Darshan, besides their ⁠party supporters Vishal Deshmukh, Dilip Pawar, Mahesh Dhaitadak and Sagar More, for the alleged crime.Mangesh Kalokhe had reportedly intimated Khopoli police in-charge Sachin Hire about a death threat to him by Devkar’s supporters on Dec 25, but neither an FIR nor a non-cognisable offence was registered by the local police, his relatives have alleged.Raigad police initially arrested Ravindra Devkar and son Darshan for the alleged murder conspiracy by hacking to death Mangesh Kalokhe on Friday morning, by tracing their whereabouts to Nagothane after 26 hours of search operation by eight police teams, including the local crime branch.Police teams are searching for the other identified accused, including the Raigad district NCP president Sudhakar Ghare, NCP’s local spokesperson Bharat Bhagat, activist Sachin Chavan, and Ravindra Devkar’s bouncer.Ghare has posted a video on social media saying he has no connection with the murder and that on Friday around 7am when the crime took place, he had left for the airport to catch a flight scheduled at 10 am for Ahmedabad to attend a religious function of the Jain community. He said considering that he has been made an accused in the case, he will return from Ahmedabad and cooperate with the investigation.Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde met the relatives of the deceased and assured them that he would ensure MCOCA is invoked against the accused and the case would be escalated in a fast-track court.Mangesh Kalokhe was killed by the assailants, who were lying in wait for him in a black car while he was returning home on his bike after dropping his daughter to school.