A day after two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers who were cousins, Rakesh and Yogesh Ralebhat, were shot dead in Jamkhed, Ahmednagar district, Krishna, the brother of Yogesh, claimed in his complaint to the police that the murder could have been an outcome of a brawl the deceased had with a political party’s workers over the issue putting up banners on Friday.

The deceased were shot dead by three unidentified bike-borne gunmen on Saturday evening.

The police, however, suspects that the reasons behind the murders could be personal and not related to their political activities.

On Saturday evening, the assailants shot eight bullets from a country-made pistol at the Ralebhat cousins when they were sitting in a restaurant in the vicinity of Jamkhed Agriculture Market Produce Committee office on the Ahmednagar-Beed highway.

Following the attack, the accused fled the crime scene on the motorcycle, whereas the friends of the Ralebhat cousins rushed them to the hospital where they were declared dead during the admission.

Dilip Waghmare, senior police inspector of Jamkhed police station, said, “The motive behind the murder is suspected to be a personal enmity, but we are probing all angles.

One of the brothers of the deceased has given us a lead in the case, and it will be thoroughly investigated.”

Political reaction

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that the police should probe the matter thoroughly. “This is not the first case in Ahmednagar. It again highlights that hooliganism is on the rise and the government has failed to maintain law and order.”