Accused sentenced to 20 years in 2011 Kinan-Ruben murder case

According to a report by Hindustan Times, the Bombay High Court has sentenced Jitendra Fakirchand Rana to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment in the case involving the brutal murder of Kinan Santos and Ruben Fernandes in 2011.

The verdict was delivered by a bench comprising Justice Makarand Karanik and Justice Sandesh D. Patil. The court stated that there is no strong evidence to convict Sunil Omprakash Both and Deepak Ishwar Omprakash Pivel for murder; therefore, they have been acquitted of these charges. However, the High Court upheld the one-year sentence imposed on them by the Special Court in 2016 for causing grievous hurt. Another accused in this case, Satish Dulgej, passed away while his appeal was pending in the High Court.

The incident occurred on October 20, 2011. A group of seven friends had gone to Amboli Kitchen Bar and Restaurant in Andheri West to watch a cricket match between India and England on a big screen. After the match, the group had dinner. While three girls accompanying them went to the washroom, Kinan Santos, Ruben Fernandes, Benjamin Fernandes, and Avinash Solanki were talking at a pan shop.

According to the prosecution, four unknown persons were standing nearby. Among them, Jitendra Rana and Satish Dulgej inappropriately touched a girl exiting the restaurant and made obscene comments. Seeing this, Kinan confronted the men, and Avinash Solanki slapped Jitendra Rana. In response, the four men abused them, threatened to kill them, and left the spot.

After some time, the four individuals returned. Rana and Satish Dulgej were armed with knives, with which they attacked Kinan and Ruben respectively. The other two associates, Sunil Both and Deepak Pivel, attacked Benjamin and Avinash using cricket bats and wooden stumps. When Kinan fell, Rana attempted to attack Avinash, but Avinash defended himself by throwing nearby glass tumblers and then using a ladder.

The accused fled the scene as people gathered. Both Kinan and Ruben were severely bloodied, and Kinan's intestines had protruded. With the help of the restaurant waiter, Benjamin and Avinash pushed his intestines back in, wrapped a towel around his stomach, and rushed him to Kokilaben Hospital via an auto-rickshaw. Ruben's brother, Benjamin, stopped another rickshaw and took Ruben first to Cooper Hospital and then to Kokilaben Hospital. Kinan died within 10 to 15 minutes of reaching the hospital, while Ruben remained unconscious for 10 days before passing away on October 31, 2011.

All four accused were arrested following the incident. On May 5, 2016, at the end of the trial, the Sessions Court convicted all four for murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The court noted that the entire incident began with the obscene acts of the accused, which led to the brutal murder of two young men.