MUMBAI: Former Shiv Sena corporator Ashok Sawant was stabbed to murder outside his Kandiwali home on Sunday night. The police have identified one of the assailants and are tracing the extortion angle in the case, said a senior police official.
Sawant (62) had been elected from the area as corporator twice in the past and was currently holding organizational post in Shiv Sena. He is survived by wife, two daughters and a son. Two of his children are MBBS doctors. One of his daughters was to get married on February 5, police have said. Assistant police commissioner from the anti-terrorism squad Subhash Sawant is Ashok’s brother.
Sawant, who had ventured into the cable business a few years back, had been receiving extortion calls and the police are investigating possibility of the murder being linked to those calls.
Throughout the day there were rumors that Kandiwali area is being shut down to protest Sawant’s death. There were rumors of riots.