Mumbai: Four arrested for kidnapping, murdering 23-year-old driver

A month after a 23-year-old driver was allegedly kidnapped and murdered, the Mumbai Police’s crime branch has arrested three people from their hometown in Madhubani, Bihar, and a fourth accused from Karnataka

A month after a 23-year-old driver was allegedly kidnapped and murdered, the Mumbai Police’s crime branch has arrested three people from their hometown in Madhubani, Bihar, and a fourth accused from Karnataka.

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“The four were brought to Mumbai on Saturday on transit remand and a local court remanded them in police custody till Thursday,” said police inspector Ghanshyam Nair from unit 5 of the crime branch.

The police have claimed that the main accused – Surendra Mandal, 30 – along with his associates – Shambhu Sadai, 30; Ram Kumar Sadai, 23; and Vijay Kumar Mistry, 50, allegedly abducted Rajesh Chaupal on May 13, suspecting that he was having an affair with Mandal’s wife in Bihar.

The accused took the victim to a construction site at Fort where they worked and slit his throat and dumped Chaupal’s body in a water tank and filled it with 25-kg salt to ensure that the body did not stench, said Nair.

“Chaupal is also from Mandal’s village and had been to his hometown last year due to the pandemic. He stayed around a year and was allegedly having an affair with Mandal’s wife. Mandal learnt about the affair and allegedly threatened to kill the victim,” said Nair.

Chaupal came to Mumbai last month, and on May 13, Mandal asked him to meet near Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, after which he went missing. Chaupal’s father registered a missing person complaint when he did not return home, said Nair.

During investigation, the crime branch learnt that the victim’s last location was near a construction site, where Mandal and the other accused were working. On probing further, they found out that the four had not reported to work at the construction site after May 14. The police suspected foul play and a team immediately rushed to Madhubani and arrested Mandal and the Sadai brothers, while another team arrested Mistry from Karnataka.

“During interrogation, they confessed to the crime and the victim’s body was recovered from the water tank on May 20,” said Nair.