Captain Bali murdered on footpath for not giving matchstick to lit cigarette

Pune – Sleuths from Pune city police Crime Branch unit 3 have nabbed a 21-year-old youth for allegedly killing Captain Ravindra Bali (65) on the footpath in Camp for allegedly not giving matchstick to lit cigarette.

The arrested accused has been identified as Robinson alias Robin Lazarus (20), a resident of Poona Club servant quarters, Camp. Lazarus is a class 12th pass out and had earlier worked with a call centre.

After the murder of Bali on the night of February 1 and 2, he had fled to Taloja in Raigad and worked at a chinese food stall there.

According to police, on the night of the incident, Lazarus and his friend Kunal More had consumed liquor on a hillock near Café Old 99 in Wanawadi. While returning home, the accused and his friend More ran out of petrol at Mamadevi Chowk., Camp.While More was pushing the bike, Lazarus was following him.

While passing outside Captain Bali’s tent on the footpath of Dr Coyaji Road, Lazarus asked him for a matchbox to light a cigarette. However, it was around midnight and Bali mistook him for a robber and refused to give him a matchbox. There was argument and fight between them. Lazarus then hit him with a stone and fled. He read about the murder in the newspapers on February 3, celebrate his birthday on February 4 and then fled to Taloja from where cops arrested him on Monday.