Pelhar murder: Cops arrest main accused, a minor boy, and his father

Mumbai The Pelhar police on Wednesday arrested the main accused, a 16-year-old boy, who allegedly had killed and disposed of the body of his eight-year-old neighbour after kidnapping her with the help of his father, who was also arrested

Mumbai The Pelhar police on Wednesday arrested the main accused, a 16-year-old boy, who allegedly had killed and disposed of the body of his eight-year-old neighbour after kidnapping her with the help of his father, who was also arrested.

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According to police, the 16-year-old accused stays in room number 4 of the same chawl where the victim stayed with her family in room number 6 of Vanyacha Pada in Vasai East. Officials said that Chandani Saha returned home from school on Saturday and went to buy ice cream near her house when she was last seen.

When Saha did not return home, her father who is a mechanic left to look for her. However, late on Saturday, when Saha was not found, her parents approached the police and registered a case of kidnapping. After searching the entire chawl, including room number 5 of the same chawl with the help of Ramehwar Sudhakar Karale,44, father of the accused. However, on Monday, the girl’s partially decomposed body was found in the same room.

On Tuesday, the police detained a suspect who was allegedly an accomplice of the main accused, but he turned out to be a witness who revealed that after Saha left the ice cream shop, he had noticed the accused follow her.

Based on this revelation, the police searched the house of the accused and found evidence suggesting that he was involved in the murder. Karale, who has been arrested, told the police that his son had killed the girl on Saturday and stuffed her body in a gunny bag, and hid it behind the chawl.

When Karale found out about the murder, he got the gunny bag and hid it in his house to cover for his son and later disposed of the body next door, a room that had been vacant for a few days.

“The accused was apprehended from Jalna bus depot. Officers are on their way to Mumbai with the accused. Only after questioning him, will we be able to verify Karale’s statement and find out why the girl was kidnapped and beaten to death and whether Karale’s wife and daughter were also involved,” said a police officer.