Drunken spat behind Bengal migrant worker's murder: Pune police on hate angle claim

New Delhi,UPDATED: Feb 12, 2026 23:55 IST

Pune Rural Police on Thursday said the murder of a 24-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal in Maharashtra’s Pune district stemmed from a drunken dispute and not from any language- or identity-based motive, countering claims made by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The victim, Sukhen Mahato, a resident of Purulia district in West Bengal and employed at a local industry in Pune, was killed on the night of February 9 in Koregaon.

According to police inspector Dipratan Gaikwad, Mahato left his residence around 3 pm to go to work but did not reach his workplace. Instead, he was found roaming in Koregaon in an intoxicated state.

Preliminary investigation indicates that Mahato entered into an argument with two men while under the influence of alcohol. CCTV footage accessed by police reportedly shows him in an unstable condition arguing with the duo. Although the actual assault was not captured on camera, Mahato was later found dead nearby with injuries inflicted by a sharp weapon.

“Our primary probe suggests that the murder was a fallout of a dispute that took place in a drunken state. There is no other angle to the incident at this stage,” Gaikwad said. Police have registered an offence and launched a search to trace and arrest the suspects.

Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the incident as a “hate crime” in a post on X, alleging that Mahato was targeted for speaking Bengali.

Posting a video of the vicctim, she said that she was “shaken, enraged, and sickened beyond words” by what she described as the “barbaric murder” of Mahato. Calling it “nothing short of a hate crime,” she alleged that he was “hunted, tortured, and murdered for his language, his identity, his roots” and linked the incident to a climate of xenophobia.

She demanded immediate arrests and exemplary punishment, assuring the victim’s family that “Bengal stands with you” and that no effort would be spared to secure justice.

Police, however, have maintained that the investigation so far does not indicate any language-based or xenophobic motive.

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With agency inputs