Four persons allegedly thrashed a tribal man to death following an old dispute and dumped the body near the Samruddhi highway in Maharashtra`s Thane district, police said on Wednesday, reported news agency PTI.

The body was found near Ratandhale village along the Mumbai-Nagpur Samruddhi Highway on Tuesday morning, they said.

The accused had a dispute with the 47-year-old victim, identified as Ramdas Gorkhane, a resident of Pradhanpada village, an official from Shahapur police station said, reported PTI.

After a heated argument, they allegedly kicked Gorkhane and also hit him with sticks. When his nephew tried to intervene, the accused asked him to step aside and forcefully bundled the victim into a jeep and took him away, the official said.

At around 5 am on Tuesday, some passers-by found the body near the Samruddhi Highway. The body was later sent to the government-run JJ Hospital in Mumbai for forensic examination, the police said, reported PTI.

Following a complaint by the victim`s nephew, the police launched a probe and arrested one of the accused, identified as Sunil Nimse, senior police inspector Mukesh Dhage said, adding efforts were on to trace the others, reported PTI.

A case has been registered against the accused on charges of kidnapping and murder under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Man`s death turns out to be murder; brother and sister-in-law arrested

In another case, the police have arrested a man and his wife for allegedly killing his brother in Nagpur and trying to pass it off as a case of accidental death, officials said, reported PTI.

The 40-year-old man was found dead in the bathroom of his house at Eros Society in Shiv Nagar on September 2.

His family then claimed he had slipped and suffered a head injury due to which he died, an official from Mankapur police station said on Tuesday, reported PTI.

However, the postmortem indicated severe head injuries caused by assault, the official said.

The police found that there was tension among the family members due to the deceased`s drinking habit, he said, reported PTI.

Based on suspicion, the police arrested the deceased`s elder brother and sister-in-law on Tuesday, the official said. A probe was underway into the case.

(With inputs from PTI)

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