Solving Crime: How a clue in a cloth bag helped police crack gruesome Matheran murder case

There was no CCTV camera installed at the cottage. When the guest register was checked, police found two names, Amjad Khan and Rubina Begum. The couple had checked in on Saturday but had not submitted any documents. This led the police to suspect that the couple had given fake names. Ten police teams were formed, some were assigned the task of trying to trace the woman’s head and clothes in the 250-ft valley near the cottage.

Bangar also instructed his teams to look for articles that looked like they were recently discarded. With monkeys in Matheran often snatching bags and articles from tourists and abandoning them all over the hill station, the police had a tough time completing the task. Soon, a pile of abandoned articles was placed in front of Bangar.

After hours spent scouring the articles, Bangar was on a break when he thought of checking a lady’s purse that he had put aside. He opened the bag, only to find cosmetic items. This time, however, a small carry bag made of cloth caught his attention. The bag had a Goregaon medical store’s name printed on it. Bangar had a hunch and decided to pursue it. A team was asked to locate this medical store and the police stations nearby.

After the store was identified, the Matheran police checked with police stations in the vicinity to see if any missing person’s complaint had been lodged in the past two days. It was here that investigators found the lead that would help them crack the case. A family had filed a complaint about a missing young woman at Bangur Nagar police station.

Meanwhile, other police teams managed to retrieve some clothes from the valley and got hold of CCTV footage that showed a couple entering Matheran, a pedestrian hill station, from the Dasturi Naka entry point. But as the couple was wearing masks due to Covid-19 guidelines, their faces could not be seen clearly. However, the Goregaon family identified the woman as Poonam Pal, 26.

Poonam, who was training to be a nurse, had not been home for two days. Her family told the police that she got married to Ramsilochan Pal, a 30-year-old software engineer, in May 2021. In accordance with their tradition, the couple was living apart till a specific period mutually decided by both families, they told the police.

When the police questioned Ramsilochan, who lived in Panvel’s Khanda Colony and worked in a Belapur firm, he confidently answered all their questions. The police were ready to strike him off their suspect list when they realised he had sideburns that matched those of the man who was caught on tape accompanying Poonam while entering Matheran. Sustained interrogation followed and Ramsilochan allegedly admitted to killing his wife, following which he was arrested.

According to the police, Ramsilochan suspected that Poonam was not faithful to him as she was often found speaking to someone on the phone. He also allegedly said that he chose Matheran as it was a place frequented by tourists. He visited the hill station, did a recce and chose a cheap cottage without a CCTV, the police said.

On December 11, 2021, Ramsilochan killed Poonam, cut her head off and threw it into the valley nearby, the police said. Her belongings, including her purse, were discarded at different places in an alleged attempt to cover his tracks. A cloth bag, however, proved to be his undoing.