Plastic garbage bag helped police crack blind murder case

A plastic bag supplied only to the Indian Navy helped police to solve a murder case in India. The bag was found next to the burnt torso of a woman and was traced to a manufacturer in Visakhapatnam. The firm confirmed that the bag was produced only for the navy. Police used the information to link the murder to a navy personnel and eventually arrested a retired navy cook who was found to have dismembered his wife's body. CCTV footage showed the suspect carrying bags containing the body parts.

A high quality plastic bag for storing garbage, supplied only to the Indian Navy, and found next to the burnt torso that was recovered from an abandoned room at Panchgaon Chowk on NH-48 on April 21, proved vital for the Manesar crime branch unit of Gurugram police to crack the case.

Plastic garbage bag helped police crack blind murder case

Vijay Partap Singh, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said it was clear that the bag was related to the torso as it had bloodstains on it.

“It had a seal of its manufacturer on it. We contacted them and they turned out to be based in Visakhapatnam. They told us that the plastic bag was manufactured only for the navy. Two years ago, its production was stopped and another variant replaced it,” he said.

“From that point on, it was evident that the murder was linked to a navy personnel,” he said.

Singh said it was sub-inspector (on probation) Lalit, heading the Manesar crime branch unit, who got this vital clue and started working on it.

The DCP said the Lalit and his team started scouring through missing person complaints and they stumbled upon a complaint submitted by Jitender, 37, about his wife Soniya Sharma, 29, going missing.

“Incidentally, it was submitted within a few hours of the recovery of the torso on April 21. The crime branch team started working on the background of the complainants and we got to know that Jitender had retired as a cook from the navy and his last posting was Visakhapatnam,” Singh said.

“Jitender had mentioned in his complaint that his wife went out on April 21 and never returned. We started a technical investigation and scanned CCTV camera footage to realise that she never left home on April 21. After gathering all the evidence, we arrested Jitender from the Manesar bus stand on April 26,” said an investigator attached to the case, asking not to be named.

He said Jitender tried to mislead the police by showing a video of a woman from behind walking on the road.

“He tried to convince investigators that the woman was Sonia but we already gathered strong evidence against him. He finally broke down and admitted to killing her. Investigators gathered footage from almost 50 CCTV cameras in which the suspect was visible carrying a trolley bag tied to the back of his motorcycle, a backpack on his shoulder and a bag on the front,” he said.

The DCP said there were more CCTV footage that clearly indicated Jitender’s presence at the spots from where the body parts were recovered.

“In addition, it was clear from the footage that the backpack had something inside as it was swollen but when he returned home later that morning, the backpack was empty. He had cleaned the bathroom after dismembering the body but forensic experts were able to gather evidence. The trolley bag and the backpack also had bloodstains on them,” he added.

Singh said others related to Jitender had no knowledge of the crime. “Even Jitender’s parents in Sector 11 didn’t know anything about the murder, though the trolley bag and backpack were recovered from there,” he said.

A senior police officer, privy to the investigation, said the body was dismembered in a precise manner, pointing to his experience of several years as a cook.

“He had planned everything planned to the last detail. It took him two hours and forty minutes to get rid of the body. He left home by 8am on April 21 and returned by 10.40am after completing the job,” the officer said.