Cops find skeletal remains suspected to be of ex-DCP’s kidnapped son

Skeletal remains suspected to belong to Vishal Kamble, a man allegedly kidnapped and murdered over a property dispute, have been found in Vadodara. His mother was also kidnapped but later rescued. Six people, including a close relative, have been arrested in connection with the case.

MUMBAI: The police have brought skeletal remains of a man from Vadodara, suspected to be of Vishal Kamble, the missing son of a retired deputy commissioner of police, who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered over a property dispute.

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Vishal, 44, and his widowed mother, Rohini, 80, were allegedly kidnapped by a close relative and his accomplices on April 4. While the woman was rescued in Aarey Colony around a month after the kidnapping, the accused had told the police that they had killed Vishal and dumped his body along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway.

The decomposed body was found around 10 kms away from Vadodara. According to the police, the clothes found on the body matched the description of Vishal’s clothes on the fateful day.

“We have handed over the remains to JJ Hospital for post-mortem. Some tissue samples were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Kalina for DNA fingerprinting,” a police officer added.

According to the FIR registered by Chembur police on April 21, 2023, Rohini’s sister Vinaya Fansalkar told the police that Rohini and Vishal had gone missing since April 4. She informed the police that the mother-son duo had come to Mumbai on March 14 and stayed in Neelkamal Hotel in Chembur, but the two left the hotel around 11 am on April 4, without taking their belongings, but did not return and their mobile phones were found to be switched off.

Investigation revealed that the gang, allegedly hired by the woman’s nephew Pranay Ramteke, had kidnapped the mother-son duo on April 5 after taking them to Panvel under the guise of showing them some property and held them against their will in a house. They also revealed that they killed Vishal and took Rohini to various places before detaining her in a flat at Royal Palms. A police team rescued her on May 2.

Apart from Ramteke, the police have also arrested Rohit Amin Admane aka Musa Parkar, a Powai resident and Munir Amin Pathan, a suspended BEST bus driver, Raju Babu Darvesh, 40, a Mira Road resident and Jyoti Waghmare, 33, a Mankhurd resident.

Investigation revealed that the accused had planned to kill Vishal on March 29 in Aarey colony where they had taken a bungalow on rent and called him for a property deal. However, they dropped the plan after Vishal went to the place with a driver in his four-wheeler.

The police said, Ramteke had planned the murder along with another relative, Rohit Admane alias Moosa Parkar and his wife Saira Khan, luring them with a share in the consideration received on selling their five-acre land and bungalow at Pachgaon in Kolhapur district.

The trio then roped in Pathan, Darvesh and Jyoti Waghmare, 33, who worked as caretaker, and Irfan Shaikh. Pathan posed as a real estate agent and had called Vishal in Aarey Colony and later in Panvel, after the first meeting failed. On April 5, when Vishal drove his car and went to the place along with his mother, the accused made Rohini stay on the ground floor of the bungalow where they met and took Vishal to the first floor where they smothered him, the police officer said.

Later, they gave a sedative to Rohini and used Vishal’s vehicle to take the body along Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway and dumped it near Vadodara. They continued driving till Ajmer in Rajasthan, where they stayed for 15 days and later came back to the city, the official added. Saira Khan and Irfan Shaikh are still at large.