32-year-old man arrested for killing 78-year-old woman, dumping body in Murbad forest area

Murbad Police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly breaking a coconut on the head of 78-year-old woman near a temple in Murbad, where she had gone to worship on March 23; the man attacked her to allegedly rob her, killing her in the process

Murbad Police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly breaking a coconut on the head of 78-year-old woman near a temple in Murbad, where she had gone to worship on March 23.

Murbad Police have arrested a 32-year-old man for killing a 78-year-old woman who had gone to temple for worship. (HT FILE PHOTO)

The man attacked her to allegedly rob her. After the woman started to bleed and fell unconscious, the accused threw her in a nearby forest area. Her body was found three days later. The police began the investigation and finally nabbed the accused on April 4.

The accused has been identified as Vikas Jadhav, a resident of Devgao, Murbad, while the woman, Nirabai Patil, was a resident of Ganesh Nagar. She left home to visit a nearby temple on the evening of March 23 with a bag of two coconuts and other things for the worship. But her family members became worried after she didn’t return home by night. They searched for her at their relatives’ places and around the temple premises. After a day, they filed a missing complaint at Murbad police station.

An officer from Murbad police station said, “We started searching for her, and on March 26, we got a call from a man who saw the dead body of the woman in the forest area. She was identified by her family members. She had suffered from head injuries. Post-mortem report made it clear that someone had tried to kill her. Also, her jewellery was missing, so it was assumed to be robbery. As there was no CCTV footage and the crime occurred a week earlier, it was difficult for us to get the details.”

Two teams of officials started keeping an eye on people who started spending a lot of money while a few villagers also informed about Jadhav, who was regularly seen in the temple area.

The officer added, “We searched for Jadhav, and after interrogation, he confessed that he went to snatch the woman’s jewellery but as she started shouting, he took a coconut from her bag and broke it on her head. She felt unconscious, after which he left her in the jungle. As it was late in the evening, there was no one around the area. The accused was arrested under IPC Section 302.”