Mumbai: Friends, relatives and neighbours gathered in large numbers at Virar on Friday to bid farewell to Mayank Lohar, the 21-year-old who was brutally murdered in a local train compartment by a co-traveller following an altercation on Tuesday night. Lohar’s parents and siblings were inconsolable as his body was taken to the crematorium.“Our only demand is that the killer be given the death penalty… or be gunned down in an encounter,” said Lohar’s elder brother, Mehul, between sobs. “My brother was stabbed to death for no fault of his. Everyone has seen the video [of the incident on social media].”Lohar’s father, Ramesh, said he was “a good kid” who wanted to work towards his goals for a bright future for his family. “He wanted to give me an early retirement. Once he started working, he got a fridge and a washing machine for the house on EMI,” said Ramesh, who works as an app cab driver. He said Lohar’s had a keen sense of fashion and was always well groomed. “His job at a clothing retail outlet required him to be well dressed. He wanted to get a good work experience at the store so that he could look for bigger work opportunities in future,” Ramesh said. Lohar’s colleagues from the store also met his family.“He was simple and sweet and would keep to himself. Throughout Friday, visitors poured in to offer their condolences. Everyone is heartbroken,” said a close friend, Arif.The family had been waiting for the past few days for Lohar’s grandfather to arrive and pay his respects, before conducting the funeral. Deputy CM Eknath Shinde called up Ramesh and assured him of action against the accused.An autopsy performed at the Borivali postmortem centre on Wednesday had said the “death was caused due to haemorrhaging and shock due to multiple stab injuries”. GRP commissioner Rakesh Kalasagar visited the Borivali railway station on Friday for a security audit and met members of passenger associations to discuss measures.Meanwhile, MNS workers demanded that the family of the accused, Roshan Suvarna, vacate their rented residence at Mira Road. The party workers said they submitted a letter to the housing society’s managing committee.
