Phillips, the main accused, was a wireman by profession and lived with his wife Lakshmi and three children at Rahul Nagar slum. Satyanarayan is his brother-in-law. Phillips started having an affair with one Jyoti, who lived a few huts away in the slum. Jyoti later took up a job at a beer bar called Bul Bul in Chembur, and she moved to Chikhalwadi. There, she started having relations with Bacchu, Akhtar and Anwar, whom she met at her workplace. The trio would also frequent Jyoti's residence. Phillips told the police that when he questioned Jyoti, she denied having anything to do with the men.

Phillips plotted to kill the trio when he overheard Jyoti telling Bacchu that Phillips had learnt about their relationship. On August 28, 1997, Phillips andSatyanarayan along with five others crept up on the sleeping men and assaulted them with choppers and pipes. Anwar fled the scene while Bacchu and Akhtar died on the spot. Public Prosecutor S S Joshi-Patil appeared for the state.

Life term for Borivli murder o IN another murder case, Additional Sessions Judge A P Bhangale sentenced one Shekhar Sharanappa Astagi (24) to life imprisonment for the murder of his 21-year-old wife, Mahadevi Astagi. The murder was committed on July 23, 1997 in the jungles of the Borivli national park.

At around 12.15 pm on the day of the incident, a resident of Malapada near Gandhi Tekdi, Ramchandra Shankar Pujari heard the screams of a woman from the jungle around his house. He saw the accused, whose clothes and hands were stained with blood, fleeing the spot. Shekhar was later arrested by the Kasturba police.

Although the motive behind the murder never came on record during the case, Mahadevi's father, Sidlingappa Shivrao Jabshetty, told the police that he had refused tocomply with Shekhar's demand for a gold ring worth half a tola.

Although the motive behind the murder never came on record in the course of the case, Mahadevi's father, Sidlingappa Shivrao Jabshetty, told the police that he had refused to comply with Shekhar's demand for a gold ring worth half a tola.

Both Shekhar and Mahadevi hail from Gulbarga in Karnataka. Mahadevi married the accused, a helper in construction work in Mumbai, just a few months before the murder. Jabshetty had given Shekhar Rs 11,000 besides gold ornaments and household items as dowry. He also got new clothes tailored for Shekhar and invited him over for lunch. But Shekhar refused to accept the present and hospitalities and demanded the ring instead. He left for Mumbai along with his wife in a huff when Jabshetty refused. He received Mahadevi's letter a few days after she left for Mumbai. Half the letter was in another person's writing; but the half by Mahadevi's hand spoke of how happy she was with Shekhar. This letter reachedJabshetty a day before he learnt of his daughter's death.

Shekhar has been fined with Rs 2000, in default he will have to undergo RI for a year. Public Prosecutor Shafi Sheikh appeared for the state.