Bombay high court sentences one to 20 years in 2011 Keenan- Ruben murder case, acquits two

One of the accused, Satish Dulgaj, died during the pendency of their appeal in the high court against the conviction

Over 15 years after Keenan Santosh and his close friend Ruben Fernandes were brutally killed after they confronted a trio which passed lewd comments at their female friends, the Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the conviction of Jitendra Fakirchand Rana and sentenced him to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.

A division bench of Justice Makarand Karnik and Justice Sandesh D Patil held that there was no cogent evidence to convict two others, Sunil Omprakash Both and Deepak Ishwar Omprakash Piwal, of murder charges. However, it upheld their conviction for causing simple hurt and the one-year sentence imposed by the special court in 2016.

One of the accused, Satish Dulgaj, died during the pendency of their appeal in the high court against the conviction

The incident took place on October 20, 2011, when a group of seven friends went to Amboli Kitchen Bar and Restaurant in Andheri West to watch the cricket match between India and England on a big screen. After the match, the group had dinner.

As three girls, who were with them, went to the washroom, the four young men - Keenan Sentos, Ruben Fernandes, Benjamin Fernandes and Avinash Solanki went to the Pan shop and were chitchatting.

According to the prosecution, a group of four unknown persons was standing nearby. Two of them, Jitendra Rana and Satish Dulgaj, groped and inappropriately touched one of their female friends as they got out of the restaurant and also passed lewd comments at her. Keenan then confronted the unknown men, and Avinash Solanki slapped Jitendra Rana.

All four men abused the group and left the place, saying they would come back and kill them. Some time later, the quartet returned to the spot. Both Rana and Satish Dulgaj were armed with knives and stabbed Keenan and Ruben, respectively.

The two accomplices of the duo, Sunil Both and Dipak Pival, assaulted Benjamin and Avinash with a cricket bat and a wooden stump. As Keenan fell, Rana ran towards Avinash, who first avoided his attack by throwing nearby glasses, then by using a ladder.

The accused fled the scene as people gathered there. Both Keenan and Ruben were bleeding profusely, and Keenan’s intestine had come out. Benjamin and Avinash, with the help of a waiter at the restaurant, pushed his intestine back in, wrapped his stomach with a towel, and took him to Kolilaben Hospital in an auto-rickshaw.

Ruben’s brother Benjamin stopped another autorickshaw and took him first to Cooper Hospital and later to Kolilaben Hospital, where Keenan died within 10 to 15 minutes. Ruben succumbed to the severe injuries on October 31, 2011, after spending the intervening 10 days lying unconscious at the hospital.

All four accused were arrested soon after the incident.

At the conclusion of the trial on May 5, 2016, the sessions court convicted all of them of murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment- for the rest of their lives- considering that the episode started with a vulgar act by the accused, who then brutally killed two young male friends of the woman after they confronted them.