Missing for 12 days, Shinde Sena’s leader’s body found in car dumped in stone quarry in Gujarat

Dhodi was missing since January 20. His family told police that while returning home from Mumbai, he had called his wife informing her that he was coming home, but he did not reach home and his mobile was also found switched off.

“After eight days of investigation, we nabbed four accused who were involved in the crime. On the basis of information revealed during their interrogation, our team on Friday reached a defunct stone quarry in Bhilad and we managed to lift Dhodi’s car from 45-feet down the quarry,” said Balasaheb Patil, Superintendent of Police, Palghar.

“During investigation, we found that the accused allegedly killed Dhodi by hitting him with an irod pipe and he died when they were taking him in his car to a deserted place. Later they tucked his body in a gunny bag and put it in the car’s boot and pushed the car into a quarry, the SP said.

Car’s glass shreds and Dhodi’s spectacles found on the turn of a road with marks of car’s tyres on the road at a stretch became the first clue in our case. We worked on the clue and nabbed the four involved in the crime,” the SP added.

The accused brother planned and executed the killing with the help of his friends from the village, and while dumping the body, made sure that Dhodi’s car was not captured in any of the CCTVs. They took small ways through the jungle area to reach Bhilad, where they dumped the body, the police officer said.

“We have sufficient technical and physical evidence, including witnesses and CCTV footage, to prove the crime,” SP Patil said.

Prima facie, it seems that there could be multiple reasons for the crime, including tussle over local illegal business, long family disputes, etc. Once the prime accused is nabbed, we would be able to ascertain the exact motive behind the murder, the senior officer said.

Both the brothers’ families have filed complaints against each other in the past few years.

The police have arrested the four accused under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita for murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy, destruction of evidence, etc. The arrested accused are in police custody till February 6. A search is on for the prime accused, the police said.