Cops track down decades old cases gone cold; solve two murders in a month

These reveals are the result of MBVV police’s endeavour to crack open “old and cold” cases, especially those related to victims of murder dumped along the Mumbai Ahmedabad highway. In a month, the team has cracked two cases whose trail had gone cold over a decade ago

MUMBAI Last month, the Mira Bhayandar Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police picked up a Mira Road resident, who works as an estate agent and a police informer, for allegedly committing a murder 16 years ago. On Tuesday, Manikpur police arrested a 39-year-old man, for allegedly killing his boss and dumping his body on the Mumbai Ahmedabad highway, or NH48, in 2010.

There are at least 300 accused in the wanted list at the Manikpur police station, involved in various crimes NH48, including cases related to dumped bodies of murder victims (HT Photo)

These reveals are the result of MBVV police’s endeavour to crack open “old and cold” cases, especially those related to victims of murder dumped along the Mumbai Ahmedabad highway. In a month, the team has cracked two cases whose trail had gone cold over a decade ago.

On September 10, 2010, cops had recovered 25-year-old Pandhari Shamu Rajbhar’s body in the forests of Sasu-Navghar, along NH48 near Kashimira. The body was discovered with its hands tied at the back and strangulation marks on the neck. An offence under section 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) was registered at the Manikpur police station against the accused identified as Sanjay Gama Bhardwaj, who worked at the fabrication unit owned by the victim, Rajbhar.

It had provoked Bhardwaj to conspire with two of his friends to kidnap Rajbhar from Waliv, in Vasai East. They strangled him with a handkerchief in the car they were driving, tied his hands and dumped the body in a mound of debris, said Sanap.

After committing the crime, Bhardwaj fled to Banaras, and returned in 2018 assuming another name. He had been living in Chakala since then. “We mobilised our informers across the city and found him in Andheri. We arrested him on Tuesday and brought him to Vasai,” said Sanap.

Deputy commissioner of police Poornima Chaugule Shringi said solving such crimes are important as they give closure to families of victims. “This commissionerate was formed to deal with the growing crime rate in these areas,” said Shringi. An officer from MBVV police said, “Earlier, there were no surveillance cameras and we faced manpower crunch as well, leading to a pile-up of cold cases.”

There are at least 300 accused in the wanted list at the Manikpur police station, involved in various crimes NH48, including cases related to dumped bodies of murder victims.

Avinash Ambure, deputy commissioner of police (crime), MBVV, said, “We have asked officers from all the 17 police stations in the jurisdiction and crime branches to focus on closing the old cases especially when they are not busy with bandobast or new cases.” He added that it was a notorious stretch given the thick forest cover and absence of any surveillance system.

“It was easy for accused to dump the bodies in forested areas along the highway and just drive to Gujarat without even being noticed. It is difficult to do so now, as there are CCTV cameras on the entry points of Mumbai. Moreover, the stretch now is divided between Naigaon and Waliv police stations, with visible police presence,” said an officer.

On April 16, the police cracked another old case related to a December 2007 murder.

On the morning of December 13, 2007, the body of a man was found with 30-35 stab wounds along the highway. He was indentified as 32-year-old Sanjay Vinod Jha, who worked as a production manager at a garment factory.

Pramod Badakh, senior police inspector of the MBVV crime branch said that two suspects, Puransingh Pratapsingh Unyoni, alias Puransingh Kapursingh Parihar, 41, and his brother Mohansingh Pratapsingh Unyoni, alias Mohansingh Kapursingh Parihar, 38, were arrested from Bageshwar in Uttarakhand on March 20. The men led the police to Nilesh Dandekar, the main accused in Jha’s murder, and his accomplice Ashok Jharkar. The two were arrested from Mira Road and Dombivali respectively. Dandekar, had a financial dealing with Jha. He had called Jha in an inebriated state, following which they had an argument. Jha allegedly smashed Dandekar’s face with a stone and dumped his body near the highway.