One arrested,cops hunt for two suspects

On Tuesday,Kandivali crime branch officers arrested Shambahadur Yadav (31),boyfriend of the victim’s wife,for the murder and are on the lookout for his friend Pramod Verma and another accomplice.

Verma,a resident of Daman,had allegedly taken the murder contract from Yadav after the latter promised him that he would pay for Verma’s wedding.

The police said Yadav,who had come to Mumbai from Azamgarh in 2006,had been working for a bank as a sales officer. He used to take tuition classes for Vishwakarma’s son and other children in the locality of their residence in Hanuman Nagar,Kandivali east. Police said Yadav had a relationship with Vishwakarma’s wife. In 2010,when the woman’s family learnt about the affair,Yadav was sacked and the woman broke up with him. Yadav,however,still wanted to marry her. Yadav was allegedly abused by Viswakarma,the police said.

In November 2011,Yadav had decided to kill Vishwakarma,who was a carpenter. He contacted his childhood friend Verma who stayed in Daman and asked for his help. On September 13,Verma,along with a friend,came to Mumbai and rented a room in Hanuman Nagar by paying a deposit of Rs 20,000 and said they would submit the documents after the house was renovated by the owner. The two,however,did not stay at the house. They bought a SIM card on forged documents using which they made a call to Vishwakarma asking him for a contract related to his profession. Vishwakarma,who suspected foul play,told his wife that he did not trust the caller and noted the number from which he had received the call.

Verma and his friend allegedly lured Vishwakarma to the rented room and strangulated him. The two then called Yadav and asked him to dump his body while the two left for Daman,the police said.

Calendar Clue

The crime branch officers visited Vishwakarma’s house and his wife showed them the mobile phone number written by her husband on a calendar.

The police acquired the call records of Vishwakarma phone and found an incoming call from the same number. “The SIM was bought from a shop in Malad by submitting forged documents,” said an officer.

The police found that the number was traveling to Daman,“We also found another number. The owner was traveling along with the owner of the traced number. When we traced the parallel number and acquired the call records,we found that the maximum number of calls from that number was made to Yadav’s mobile number. We nabbed Yadav,who confessed to the crime,” said Raghunath Dalvi,senior inspector, Unit 11,the crime branch.

The police are on the lookout for Verma and his accomplice. “Yadav was handed over to the Samta Nagar police on Tuesday,” said Dalvi.