Navi Mumbai: After more than eight years of court trial in the double murder case registered at Sanpada police station, the arrested accused, now aged 46, was convicted by the additional district and sessions court, Belapur, on Tuesday and was sentenced to life term imprisonment with a Rs 1,000 fine. The court order pronounced by magistrate PA Sane added that if the convicted person did not pay the fine, the life term would be extended by six months.Devidas Kathale, senior inspector of Sanpada, informed that the accused, identified as Prabhakar Dhotre, killed his two friends, Sandeep Gaikwad and Sameer Shaikh by smashing their heads under the Turbhe flyover along the Thane-Belapur road on July 27, 2017. Dhotre was arrested within seven hours, after which he claimed that Gaikwad and Shaikh were harassing him by demanding money and were forcibly taking Rs 20,000 cash to buy alcohol and drugs. Around 2 am, when Dhotre was sleeping under the flyover, Gaikwad and Shaikh reached there in a drunken state and woke him up to join them to smoke a banned substance. Dhotre lost his cool, picked up a heavy stone and paver block, and killed them. A total of 30 documentary evidences and 13 circumstantial evidences were presented before court, while testimony of 13 witnesses was recorded.
