India 'gold man' battered to death in front of his son

An Indian man who bought one of the world's most expensive shirts made entirely of gold has been allegedly battered to death, police said.Datta Phuge shot into the global limelight in 2013 when he bought a shirt made with more than 3kg of gold and worth $250,000 .

Money-lender Phuge, 48, from western Pune, was reportedly set upon by 12 people on Thursday night, who hit him with a sickle and stones.

Mr Phuge’s 22-year-old son witnessed the attack but was not harmed, according to the police, who are questioning four people in connection with it,BBC reports
The alleged killers had invited the pair to a birthday party in Dighi area the police said.One of the suspects had invited Mr Phuge and his 22-year-old son to celebrate a birthday at an open ground in Dighi area when the men attacked him with stones and a sharp weapon.

Police said the son had witnessed his father being murdered and had been spared by the alleged killers. 

"However, we are investigating how Mr Phuge reached the open ground where he was murdered," Dighi police station inspector Navnath Ghogare told the Press Trust of India news agency.

He explained that he bought the gold shirt to attract women.

'I know I am not the best looking man in the world but surely no woman could fail to be dazzled by this shirt?' he said at the time. 

'The gold shirt has been one of my dreams,' Mr Phuge told Indian newspaper the Pune Mirror. 'It will be an embellishment. It will be an embellishment to my reputation as the “Gold man of Pimpri”.