‘Paranoia’ over cellphone use lands murder suspect in net

After fleeing the city with aides Hemant Manoria and Mahendra Singh Rathod,Purohit led the police on a nearly year-long wild goose chase spanning Rajasthan,Gujarat,Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh.

“If any of his contacts stopped answering his calls and he felt that they had been speaking to police,he would immediately discard the phone and SIM card,” said assistant inspector Anil Dhole.

His paranoia would eventually give him away. A month before his arrest,he had met a 16-year-old girl in Lucknow and promised to marry her. Purohit had adopted an alias Rahul Joshi and had forged a voter id.

“In March,he eloped with the minor to Rajasmand and took a house on rent,” said inspector Vinayak Vast. To speak to a local contact,he paid the driver of a private bus Rs 500 in return for using his cellphone,police said.

“The contact alerted us about Purohit’s location after he received the call. When we reached Rajasmand and began show people a sketch of Purohit,we came across the driver and he led us to the rented house,” said Dhole. The minor girl was sent home,police said.

Purohit’s was the final arrest in the high-profile murder in the Ajmeras’ residence in Ghatkopar on May 7 last year. He was fired in February,while Manoria continued to work there. Late in April,two got together with Rathod,a cook working in Worli,to plan out the details of the crime.

“Although,they wanted only to rob the house,they decided to kill Chetna if she resisted,” said Vast. The trio slit her throat and fled with cash and jewellery worth nearly

Rs 1.5 crore. The case was initially investigated by Pant Nagar police and later transferred to Mumbai police crime branch. Inspector Vast,now posted in the Anti-Extortion Unit,then investigated the case.

“The watchman of the apartment complex told us that Purohit and Manoria had entered the building. We found that they lived in Nathpai Nagar,Chembur. When we went there, the hutment was locked,” he said.

The police traced the cellphones of Purohit,Manoria and their friends. “We had told them to inform us when he called them. The first call led us to Udaipur,and then to Ahmedabad. For the next five months,we travelled around Rajasthan and Gujarat. This helped us put together a network of public phones that Purohit had used,” Dhole said.

The first breakthrough came when the police picked up Manoria in Ahmedabad,where he was working as a domestic help. “The booty was not split up in three parts. Purohit kept the bulk of it himself and sent money to the other two when they required it. He sold the jewellery to three jewellers and spent the money staying in plush hotels,frequenting bars and buying expensive watches,” he said.

Manoria’s arrest led the police to Rathod and Shyamlal Soni,a jeweller who had purchased part of

the stolen goods.

Purohit made no contact with his family,not even his wife,who had delivered their child in September last year.

A month before his arrest,the police came close to nabbing Purohit in Lucknow.

“We had traced the signals of the phone he was using then to Lucknow. We left for Lucknow,but Purohit fled a day before we arrived,” Dhole said. The police admit to have stumbled upon the driver.

“Purothit had been using his new name Had we not found the driver,he could have slipped away,” said Dhole. The police have recovered a chunk of the stolen jewellery and filed a chargesheet in the case. The trial,Vast said,was yet to begin.

srinath.rao@expressindia.com