Man’s arrest helps identify victim 7 months after murder

The breakthrough came after the Ghatkopar police received a tip-off,based on which they arrested Ramkumar Lal Bahadur Yadav,an autorickshaw driver.

“The body did not have any documents or ID proof on it. To trace his identity,we investigated all missing person complaints registered in city police stations,made inter-state wireless calls,notified the Thane and the Navi Mumbai police also. But we were still unsuccessful. On Saturday,thanks to the efforts of the Ghatkopar police,we have reopened the unsolved murder case. The body has been identified as that of one Arun Dhanushdhari Rai,a mechanic hailing from Vile Parle,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone VI) Dilip Sawant.

Last week,police sub-inspector Rafiq Sheikh of the Ghatkopar police received a tip-off by an informant that some men comprising autorickshaw drivers and mechanics from Vile Parle had killed someone and thrown his body into a jetty. Sheikh spoke to an inspector from Trombay police station who confirmed that they were investigating a the case of an unclaimed body. “We then laid a trap at the mentioned spot where one of the accused,Ramkumar Yadav,lived. We took the neighbours into confidence by telling them that we had come to take away Yadav as he knew something about an autorickshaw theft. When he returned to his house,we brought him to the police station and grilled him about the murder,” said Sheikh.

Yadav confessed that he and a group of others had killed Rai allegedly over a money dispute.

“We are yet to verify the motive of the crime. However,Yadav has confirmed that he,Rai and some others belonged to a group of autorickshaw drivers and mechanics. On February 10,Rai and the others had fought over some money issue,after which they decided to kill him. After getting him to drink country liquor,they took him to a secluded spot at Trombay jetty,where,while some of them pinned him by the hands,others throttled him. They face was smashed with stones to prevent identification,” said Sawant. He added that more arrests will be made soon.