Solving Crime: How a murder accused’s cell phone was accidentally turned on for 10 seconds & helped police catch him

Feeling insulted, Makwana allegedly decided to take revenge and roped in Anbhavne. He called the girl and requested that she meet him one last time. On August 25, the Class 10 student left home for school but instead went to meet Makwana at Anbhavne’s Juhu house, a ground-plus-two hutment.

The girl informed Makwana that she could not go against her family and continue the relationship, the police said. Makwana allegedly got angry, took out a knife from his pocket and slashed her multiple times. Anbhavne, who was also present there, gagged the girl and helped Makwana kill her, the police said. After this, the two allegedly changed her clothes and put Anbhavne’s T-shirt on her. They then put her body and her school uniform in a suitcase, and from Andheri railway station, they boarded a Virar local train, the police said.

The duo got off at Naigaon station and dumped the suitcase in the mangroves at an isolated location in Pareira Nagar. They returned to Naigaon station, boarded a train to Vasai, and from there, boarded a train bound for Rajasthan, the police said.

Meanwhile, the next day, a local spotted the suitcase and informed the police. The Waliv police reached the spot and found the girl’s body. The girl’s uniform helped the police identify her school and her family. Her parents were called to Waliv, where they identified the deceased as their daughter. When the parents were asked if they doubted anyone, they named Makwana and shared his cell phone number and address. The police found his number switched off and he was not at the said address.

The police tried to trace his phone’s location but it was switched off. Then, on August 26, the cell phone was switched on for 10 seconds at 5.42 am. Seeing the first ray of hope, the police checked the mobile tower location and traced it to Ahmedabad railway station. The CCTV at the station and lodges and hotels around it were checked but Makwana was nowhere to be found.

Investigators identified one train that originates in Bangalore and goes to Rajasthan, via Vasai, that arrived at Ahmedabad station at 5.42 am. This train leaves Vasai at 11 pm. A police team then checked Vasai railway station’s CCTV visuals at night and spotted Makwana boarding the first bogey after the engine along with Anbhavne.

Multiple teams were then formed and sent out to check the CCTV feed from all the railway stations where the said train halted en route to its destination. But, Makwana and his friend were not spotted in any of them.

Meanwhile, a separate police team analysing Makwana’s phone call details identified the numbers of his friends and relatives and dug out his background details. They got a small clue that Makwana’s grandmother lived in Gujarat’s Palanpur, which is around 146 km from Ahmedabad railway station. Police teams then checked Palanpur railway station’s CCTV but no camera was installed towards the direction of the train’s engine, a police officer said.

As a last resort, the police decided to check on Makwana at his grandmother’s place. She told the police that she did not know where he was. However, the police thought her body language was suspicious, and the next day, at 4 am, they raided her place but Makwana was nowhere to be found.

As news of the raid spread through the village, a man with whom Makwana’s grandmother had a property dispute tipped off the Waliv police teams in Palanpur that two men had come to see the elderly woman. The police team again raided Makwana’s grandmother’s place and houses in the neighbourhood, and Makwana and Anbhavne were arrested.

When the police asked Makwana why he had switched on his phone at Ahmedabad railway station for just 10 seconds, Makwana allegedly said that he had kept all his mobile phones in his pants pockets. While he was asleep, the phone’s button got accidentally pushed, and the phone was switched on. When he noticed this, he immediately turned it off. But these 10 seconds were sufficient for the police.