An owner of a garment shop has been left grievously injured after he was attacked with a knife, beaten up and punched by two men in Ulhasnagar. The duo was asked to carry out the assault by two of their friends who were removed from a WhatsApp group, the admin of which is the victim. Two of the accused have alleged that the group admin owed money to them. One of the perpetrators has been arrested – the son of an ex-corporator, who will be produced in court.

Bunty Kurseja (30), the owner of Mayaji Boutique, a garment shop in Ulhasnagar, had created a group titled 'Jai Ho' on instant messaging application WhatsApp. The group was created so that members could exchange info and updates of the garment industry in minimum time.

However, two of the group's members, Anil Mukhi and Naresh Rohra, would keep sharing pornographic content. This irked the others, who sent personal messages to Bunty, the administrator, asking him to remove the duo.

Bunty warned Anil and Naresh to refrain from sending such content, but the two men didn't pay heed. A few days later, Bunty removed the duo from the group.

The now ex-members asked two of their friends, Naresh Chavan aka Bablya, a history-sheeter, and 21-year-old Babu Suresh Gaikwad, the son of ex-corporator, to attack Bunty.

Pretending to be customers, Bablya and Babu entered Bunty's shop on May 27 and ended up arguing with him over the bill, after which they brandished a knife and attacked him.

Manoj Chouhan, investigating officer of Hill Line police said that when Bunty's statement was recorded, he mentioned that he had borrowed a sum of money from Anil and Naresh. "The loan of a few lakhs was borrowed a year ago due to some family problem. The duo would keep pressing Bunty to cough up the amount, but he was unable to do so," the officer added.

The duo's removal from the group was the final straw, which is when they asked Bablya and Babu to carry out the attack, said officer Chouhan, adding: "One of the accused, the son of a former corporator, has been caught and will be produced in court soon. We have got footage of the shop's CCTV, where it is clearly seen that the victim was attacked with a knife by the accused."

Satya Kumar, a resident of Ulhasnagar, said: "After the incident, owners of garment shops got angry and held a meeting to discuss the same. They kept whole lane in Ulhasnagar no 5 area shut, as a mark of protesting the attack."

The case was registered the very next day under IPC Sections 307 (Attempt to murder) and 507 (Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication). Investigations are ongoing to locate the other three accused.