MUMBAI: Four women beat a 35-year-old man to death in a Ghatkopar slum , in the presence of scores of witnesses, after he came out nude from his home and abused them. The incident took place on the night of February 10. Jethwa suffered internal blows and died the next morning. Despite the murder happening in front of so many people, not a single person has come forward to identify the four women.

Cops initially registered Harish Jethwa’s death as accidental but made it a murder case after getting the post-mortem report. Initially, the Ghatkopar police had registered an accidental death report (ADR). On February 22, the police registered a case of culpable homicide on the basis of the post-mortem report.

The police said that the incident occurred around 11pm on February 10 when the accused came out of his home nude and hurled abuses at four women in the locality over petty issues. The entire assault was witnessed by several residents of Sainath Nagar in Ghatkopar (W) but no one came forward as a witness in the case.

Jethwa was a history-sheeter and not in good terms with his neighbours. “The case was registered after the post-mortem confirmed that the death was caused by internal injuries that he had suffered after the women assaulted him for his obscene act,” said Ghatkopar police inspector C N Puri.

The police are searching for the four unidentified women who were booked under IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). In the complaint, victim’s mother Manji (63) said, “The four women thrashed my son for no reason after calling him out of our house. They also made allegations that my son stepped out of the house without any clothes. He was properly dressed but the women assaulters alleged that he was nude.”

The police said that they are investigating the matter and will arrest all the accused who committed the offence.