Live-in partner who killed woman, dumped body arrested before fleeing to hometown

Barla worked in a sweets shop in Sion while the woman used to work as a domestic help but left the job as he suspected her of having an affair with a man at her workplace, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Raj Tilak Roshan of crime branch said and added the couple used to fight over this often.

MUMBAI: A 22-year-old man from Odisha, who strangled his live-in partner, stuffed her body in a suitcase, and dumped it near a metro construction site in Kurla, was nabbed at Thane railway station on Monday night moments before he was to board a long-distance train, police said.

Live-in partner who killed woman, dumped body arrested before fleeing to hometown

According to the police, Askar Manoj Barla and Pratima Pawal Kispatta, 25, met during the lockdown when they were heading to their hometowns on the same bus from Mumbai. Both came to the city in July this year and started living together. Last month, they shifted to Dharavi, a police officer said.

Barla worked in a sweets shop in Sion while the woman used to work as a domestic help but left the job as he suspected her of having an affair with a man at her workplace, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Raj Tilak Roshan of crime branch said and added the couple used to fight over this often.

“One such fight occurred on Saturday night and in a fit of rage, Barla strangled her with his hands,” Roshan said. “On realising that he had killed the woman, he put the body in an old suitcase. He planned to take a train to his hometown with the bag and throw it off wherever he got an opportunity.”

Accordingly, the accused took an auto to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Kurla but before entering the station, he got cold feet and decided to return to Dharavi, the police officer said. On his way home, he got off from an auto at CST Road in Kurla West and left the bag near the metro rail construction site between 12pm and 2am on Sunday.

A local shopkeeper found the bag and the body contained in it and alerted Kurla police station. A case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code was registered and investigation was handed over to the crime branch. Police officers circulated the woman’s picture on their WhatsApp groups and scanned footage of CCTV cameras installed in Santacruz, Bandra Kurla Complex and Kurla to ascertain the possible routes taken by the accused to dump the body.

Another crime branch officer said after disposing of the body, Barla stayed for a day in his Dharavi residence and was planning to flee to his hometown on Monday night.

Meanwhile, the elder sister of the victim, who works in Versova, saw the post circulating on a WhatsApp group and approached the crime branch unit 11. Since she was aware that her younger sister was staying with Barla in Dharavi, she provided his contact number to the police, the officer said.

Barla’s location was traced to Thane railway station from where he had decided to board a connecting train to Odisha, and he was nabbed by a team from unit 5 of crime branch. He was formally arrested on Tuesday, the officer added.

The crime branch has handed over the accused to the Kurla police.

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