Husband among 3 arrested for murder of woman outside Panvel railway station

Besides the husband, the two others arrested are the husband’s girlfriend and the girlfriend’s employer; the plan for murder, which occurred outside Panvel railway station, was hatched by six people; apart from the three arrested, the other three are members of a gang that was given a contract to kill the woman for ₹3 lakh

The Navi Mumbai police have arrested three persons in connection with the murder of the 29-year-old digital marketing executive, whose throat was slit outside the Panvel Railway station last week.

The husband of the deceased woman, Priyanka Rawat (in picture) was among three persons arrested for last week’s murder of a woman outside Panvel railway station. (HT PHOTO)

Those arrested are the deceased woman’s husband, his girlfriend and the girlfriend’s employer. The plan for murder was hatched by six people. Apart from the three arrested, the other three are members of a gang that was given a contract to kill the woman for ₹3 lakh.

According to sources privy to the investigations, the husband of the victim, Devvratsingh Rawat (32), was having an extra-marital affair with Nikita Matkar (24) since the beginning of this year. Rawat and Matkar got married in a temple in August. Eventually, the victim, Priyanka Rawat, learnt about her husband’s marriage.

Matkar, who worked as a teacher in a private tutorial run by Pravin Ghadge (45) in Mankhurd, wanted to get Rawat’s wife killed in order to start living together. Matkar and Rawat approached Ghadge to help them in getting Priyanka killed. Ghadge, in turn, introduced them to a gang from Buldhana living in Mumbai.

“The three in the gang executed the plan as per the instructions of Rawat and then fled to Buldhana. The contract was given for ₹3 lakh, of which ₹2 lakh was paid.

The case was cracked after the police investigated the call record details of the husband. After finding photos of Rawat and Matkar on his phone, police interrogated both separately and Matkar spilled the beans. The murder occurred on September 15 at around 10pm outside Panvel railway station. The Panvel Railway Police Force provided the CCTV footage of the incident to Panvel police.

“Being night hours, the footage was not clear. The attacker’s face was not very clear. We provided whatever was available,” Jasbeer Rana from Panvel RPF said.

In the footage, the accused was seen waiting for the victim. After she came out and was walking towards the auto stand, the accused was seen walking behind her and then slit her throat from behind before fleeing. Married for four years, Rawat, a Computer Engineer, had started working in a Thane-based private firm as a digital marketing professional a year ago. Her husband worked as sales manager in an e-commerce company. According to the police, the trio accused who executed the murder was following her right from Thane till Panvel.

The three from Buldhana have been identified as Rohit alias Shiv alias Rawat Raju Sonone (22), Deepak Dinkar Lokhande (25) and Pankaj Narendra Kumar Yadav (26).