27-year-old man held within hour of suffocating girlfriend in Thane hotel over affair suspicion

THANE: A 27-year-old man was arrested within an hour of allegedly suffocating his girlfriend to death with a pillow inside a hotel room in Thane after a heated argument over his suspicion that she was having an affair with another man

THANE: A 27-year-old man was arrested within an hour of allegedly suffocating his girlfriend to death with a pillow inside a hotel room in Thane after a heated argument over his suspicion that she was having an affair with another man. The accused was traced and arrested on Wednesday night while roaming near Masunda Lake, popularly known as Talao Pali, police said.

According to the police, the woman was married but had been living separately from her husband, who resides in Bhandup. Around five years ago, she came in contact with the accused, Nandkishor Gadekar, 27, a resident of Dombivli, through social media. The two, who hailed from Latur district, grew close over their shared roots and eventually entered into a relationship. Investigators said the couple frequently met at hotels to spend time together.

Police said that in recent days, Gadekar had begun suspecting that the woman was involved with another man after noticing that she was frequently on phone calls. The suspicion had led to repeated confrontations and arguments between the two.

Against this backdrop, the couple decided to meet in Thane on Tuesday and checked into a room at Maharaja Hotel, a budget hotel in Jambli Naka, at around 3pm.

Bharat Chaudhary, senior police inspector of Thane Nagar police station, said the couple got into a heated argument between 7pm and 8pm over the woman’s alleged relationship with another man.

“During the argument, Nandkishor allegedly assaulted the woman before smothering her to death with a pillow. He then fled the hotel after committing the crime,” Chaudhary said. Balasaheb Patil, deputy commissioner of police, Zone I, said that at around 10.30pm, as Gadekar was leaving the hotel, a staff member enquired about the woman. “He told the staff that she was in the washroom and would come out shortly,” Patil said.

When the woman did not step out of the room for a long time, hotel employees became suspicious and entered the room, where they found her lying dead. They immediately alerted the Thane Nagar police.

Police teams launched a search and examined CCTV footage from the hotel and surrounding areas to trace the accused.

“Based on the CCTV footage and technical inputs, our team tracked down and arrested Nandkishor Gadekar near Masunda Talao at around 11.30pm. He was allegedly in a heavily intoxicated state at the time of his arrest,” Patil said.