Santacruz senior citizen’s murder: Caretaker arrested from Ahmedabad railway station

The caretaker, a Nepali citizen, identified as Krishna Manbahadur Periyar, 30 had allegedly strangulated pharmaceutical expert Dr Murlidhar Naik on Sunday night and fled. He was hired on May 1 to look after the senior citizen and used to share the same room with him

MUMBAI: Within 12 hours of an 85-year-old man’s murder at his Santacruz apartment, the prime suspect, a newly-hired caretaker, was arrested from Ahmedabad railway station.

Santacruz senior citizen’s murder: Caretaker arrested from Ahmedabad railway station

The police officials said the caretaker also intended to harm his wife who was sleeping in another room, with a locked door which may have saved her life.

The caretaker, a Nepali citizen, identified as Krishna Manbahadur Periyar, 30 had allegedly strangulated pharmaceutical expert Dr Murlidhar Naik on Sunday night and fled. He was hired on May 1 to look after the senior citizen and used to share the same room with him. The police said they recovered a chain made with gold and rudraksh worn by the elderly man and a wristwatch from the accused.

“The Naiks, Murlidhar and his 84-year-old wife Uma, had another caretaker who looked after the ailing husband until a month ago. Since he wanted a few days off on account of his marriage later this month, the elderly couple asked the same agency - Health Care At Home - for a replacement. Hence the agency sent Periyar for the job,” informed deputy commissioner of Police Krishnakant Upadhyay. He added that it also happened that Periyar had approached the agency only a day prior to his starting date.

The DCP added that Periyar then tried to enter the room where Uma was sleeping. However, he found that the door was locked. “He seems to have left the house around 6am. He then took a northbound train from Santacruz station, got off at Kandivali for breakfast and then proceeded to Borivali,” said the DCP.

Meanwhile, the cook came to the house at her usual time. When Uma woke up, she found the door to Murlidhar’s room ajar and assumed that he was doing his morning chores. It was only after the cook went to call him for morning tea that they found his body.

“We booked the accused under sections 302 and 394 of Indian Penal Code on the complaint of his daughter Sangeeta Garg, a Chembur resident,” said Upadhyay.

Information that the detection team which was tracking the accused received information from Western Railways that Periyar was seen at the Borivali station at 7.47 am and at Mumbai Central at 9.09 am from where he boarded the Saurashtra Express around 9.45 am. He reached Ahmedabad at 9 pm.

“While he was on the train, we had already alerted the GRP at Ahmedabad. Ten teams were sent to different places to look for the accused, as catching him was a priority. It became more urgent when we got to know he hails from Nepal and probably planned to go there,” said Upadhyay. The Ahmedabad GRP had detained the accused until the Mumbai police team reached there.

Police said not only did the agency through which Periyar was hired co-operated in providing information about him, two of his brothers who also live and work in Mumbai also helped the police. The brothers told the police that their family hails from a village in Kalikot district of Nepal and they have been coming to Mumbai and doing various jobs here for the past 7-8 years.

However, the accused also holds an Aadhar card that is linked to an address in Bengaluru. Periyar is married and his wife stays in their native place.