With the arrest of five persons, including three from Kalaburagi in Karnataka, police in Maharashtra's Palghar district claimed to have cracked the murder case of a man, whose body was recovered recently on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.
The highly decomposed body of the 52-year-old victim, Amarji Gammira Balai, was recovered on April 26 from a place located under the limits of Valiv police station in the district. During the probe, it came to light that he was murdered on April 12 as a result of some dispute, police said.
Of the five accused, Kapil Chandu Rathod, his brother Amol, and Laxman Pawar were arrested from Kalaburagi in Karnataka, while two others - Dinesh and Vishal Ade - were held from Vasai and Bhiwandi respectively, they said. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Dr Mahesh Patil of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar police commissionerate said that a complaint was lodged on April 16 stating that Balai had gone missing from his house since April 12.
The police registered a missing person's report and launched a probe. "The police got a tip-off that Amol Rathod and his associates had killed Amarji and dumped his body along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway to destroy the evidence. A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) on April 26," he said.
{{/usCountry}}The police registered a missing person's report and launched a probe. "The police got a tip-off that Amol Rathod and his associates had killed Amarji and dumped his body along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway to destroy the evidence. A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) on April 26," he said.
{{/usCountry}}The police probe team later recovered the highly decomposed body of the victim packed in a suitcase and thrown by the roadside, Patil added. During the investigation, the police found that the victim and the main accused Dinesh Khanayalal Chobisa were locked in a dispute over the past six months over the ownership of a tea stall located in front of a hotel on Kaman-Bhiwandi road.
Chobisa and his associates hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Balai. As per the plan, they called the victim out of his house on April 12, killed him and packed his body in a suitcase before dumping it . It was a case of contract killing and ₹70,000 were involved in the deal, said Pankaj Shirsat, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Tulinj.