Mumbai, Jan 28 (Mid-day) : A fight over Rs 10 left three young kids fatherless on Republic Day. Firoze Sheikh, a 35-year-old chicken shop owner, was strangled to death by three men following an argument that one of them had with him over the price of the meat that he had bought.

Kundan Chaudhary (24) had gone to Sheikh’s shop at Elphinstone Road on Monday night, but he paid only Rs 90 after buying meat worth Rs 100. Sheikh’s wife Shahzan, who now has to take care of their three kids Afreen (4), Alfiya (5) and Farhan (10) alone, said, “The accused held a grudge against my husband, who was the sole breadwinner in our family.

They always gave him less money after buying from his shop and unnecessarily squabbled with him. On Monday morning, Chaudhary had bought chicken worth Rs 140 and paid only Rs 120” “Around 8.30 pm the same evening, Chaudhary went to the shop again to buy chicken, but he gave only Rs 90 for meat worth Rs 100.

When my husband asked him for the Rs 10, he called two of his friends, Sanjay Bharti and Damodar Sathu (both 20 years old). One of them covered my husband’s mouth, another held him down and Chaudhary strangulated him in full public view,” she added.

When people began to gather, the others escaped, but Chaudhary held on to Sheikh’s neck and let go only when one of the bystanders hit him on the head with a stick. “I rushed to my husband’s side, and he died in my arms. We took him to KEM hospital, but he was declared dead on arrival. I have no one in this world except my husband. Who will bring up my three kids now?” said Shahzan.

‘Good person’

One of Sheikh’s neighbours said, “The accused may have hatched a plan to kill him and used this fight as a ruse. Sheikh was a very good and simple person and would always come forward to help people in the area. He had been running the shop for years. Now, there is no one to look after his family.”

An officer from NM Joshi police station said, “Chaudhary was beaten up by locals and handed over to us on the spot, while the other two accused were arrested later. There was a fight between the accused and Sheikh over Rs 10, which led to the murder. All the accused worked at a vada pav stall near Kamgar Nagar.”