Ex-DCP’s son killed, his wife abducted by kin for property

DCP (zone VI) Hemraj Rajput said that Vishal and his mother Rohini would frequently come to Mumbai in connection with some litigation linked to a bungalow in Kamble’s name. Like other occasions, they resided at Hotel Neelkamal in Chembur when they came to Mumbai mid-March.

On April 5, they left the hotel carrying documents of a five-acre plot and a bungalow at Kolhapur and went to a Panvel villa where they were to meet a “property dealer” who sent someone to pick them up. Once they reached there, they were overpowered by the people who claimed to be the property dealers.

As per police, the accused forced Vishal to sell the Kolhapur property and when he refused, they allegedly murdered him and disposed of his body on the Vadodra–Ahmedabad highway. They took the 80-year-old Rohini to Ajmer in Rajasthan where she was kept for a few days. She was later brought to the city and kept at an apartment in Aarey Colony.

According to police, the accused had put her on sedatives, while they prepared documents to get the property transferred in their name.

When the mother-son duo did not return, the hotel staff alerted Rohini’s sister about the same as their mobile phones were switched off. The sister approached police on April 21 and registered two missing persons complaints.

Police began a probe and arrested two persons — Munir Pathan (41), a suspended BEST bus driver from Wadala and Rohit Admane (40) from Powai. Based on their interrogation, police found that while Vishal was murdered, Rohini was kept at
a flat in Aarey Colony.

The police team on Tuesday raided the Aarey flat and found Rohini in a semi-consciousness condition. There were three other persons — Raju Darvesh (42), Pranav Ramteke (25) and Jyoti Waghmare (33) — in the flat who were also arrested, taking the total number of arrests in the case to five.

“Rohini was immediately rushed to Rajawadi hospital where she is recuperating,” Rajput said. Police found that Pranav Ramteke, who was present in the Aarey flat, was the son of Rohini’s brother, who is alleged to be the mastermind of the crime. “Ramteke wanted the Kambles to sell the five-acre plot and bungalow in Kolhapur and share the money with them since the property was in Rohini’s name. The Kambles refused to do so and the main accused took help of the other accused,” said an officer linked to the probe.

Ramteke asked the other accused to pose as property dealers and offered a high price for the Kolhapur property and invited the mother-son duo to the Panvel farmhouse where the crime was committed.

An officer said that the five accused were produced before the court on Wednesday and were remanded to police custody till May 12. Police are still on the lookout for two other accused who they suspect played a part in the crime.

“While the accused have told us that they disposed of the body on the Vadodra–Ahmedabad highway on April 5 after the murder, a lot of time has passed. Our teams are trying to find the body,” the officer added.