The Mumbai Crime Branch on Tuesday arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly murdering his live-in partner whose body was found in a suitcase in Kurla on Sunday. According to police, Pratima Paval Kispatta (25), a housekeeping staff in an apartment complex, was allegedly murdered by Askar Manoj Barla (22) who was working at a sweet shop in Sion. Police said the duo hails from Odisha and got acquainted with each other while returning to their state from Mumbai during the Covid-19 lockdown. They returned to Mumbai in July this year and started staying in Dharavi. Deputy commissioner of police Raj Tilak Roushan said Barla suspected Kispatta of having an affair with someone, over which they had a fight on Sunday. During the fight, Barla allegedly strangulated Kispatta. He then put her body in a suitcase and planned to leave for Odisha with the suitcase. When Barla reached the LTT railway station, he changed his mind and took an autorickshaw to look for a place to dump the suitcase. Eventually, he left the bag at a Metro construction site in Chembur and fled the spot. Later, police found the body and a murder case was registered at the Kurla police station. The first task was to identify the woman. The Crime Branch police discovered a cross around the woman’s neck. Unit XI of the Crime Branch circulated the photograph of the woman to various churches and eventually, the deceased’s sister, who resides in Andheri, identified her. The Crime Branch later found out that Kispatta was in a live-in relationship with Barla for two years. Police then started looking for the accused and the unit V of the Crime Branch found him at Thane railway station from where he was planning to take a train to Odisha. During interrogation, Barla said he did not plan to murder her and it happened in a fit of rage. Police arrested him Monday and produced him before the court that remanded him in police custody for three days.
