Chandrabhan Sanap, 28, had called up his wife in Nashik on January 6, a day after allegedly killing 23-year-old techie Esther Anuhya, police said. According to the police, the first call Sanap made when he came to his senses after committing the crime was to his wife.
When he confessed to the crime, she allegedly got angry. Sanap told her that he had committed the offence, as he was drunk. He promised that he would mend his ways and become a god-fearing person.
“He also promised to quit drinking and grow a beard. But it was a lie as he was found drunk on the day he was arrested in connection with the case,” said a crime branch officer, on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
Anuhya’s partially burnt, decomposed body was found on January 17, just off a service road next to the Eastern Express Highway in Bhandup. She had arrived at LTT from Andhra Pradesh early on January 5 and had gone missing. The only lead in the case was the CCTV footage hours before her murder, in which she was seen walking with a man while talking on the phone.
Two days after the incident, Sanap had visited the city to check if there was any buzz about it in the area where he lived. “He was in the city for a few hours. He also went to the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli link road that passes from near the Kanjurmarg station, to check if the police vans were making rounds of Karve Nagar, where his parents lived and whether the police had identified him,” said the officer.
{{/usCountry}}Two days after the incident, Sanap had visited the city to check if there was any buzz about it in the area where he lived. “He was in the city for a few hours. He also went to the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli link road that passes from near the Kanjurmarg station, to check if the police vans were making rounds of Karve Nagar, where his parents lived and whether the police had identified him,” said the officer.
{{/usCountry}}The police are in the process of gathering evidence against Sanap. “While returning from Mumbai, Sanap had boarded a mail train from Kalyan and had flung her laptop out of it. Several police teams are looking for the laptop along the stretch,” the officer said.
Meanwhile, the crime branch, on Thursday, charged Sanap with rape under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code. Initially, Sanap had been booked under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information). During the course of investigation, the police had added sections 363 (kidnapping) and 390 (robbery).