Four arrested in Mumbai for dumping colleague’s body on road and fleeing after accident

The accused said the driver had reversed the vehicle and accidentally run over the 31-year-old victim, after which they had panicked and run

The Kalachowky police arrested four men — all employees of a Mumbai civic body contractor — on Wednesday in connection with the death of their colleague, after they dumped his body and fled following an accident

Mohammed Mansuri, 31, died after his colleague reversed the garbage dumper and knocked him down accidentally.

The police had filed a case of murder initially, but after the details came out, they have converted it into a case of accidental death.

On January 9, the Kalachowky police received a phone call from local residents about a man lying dead on the side of a road. The victim’s post-mortem report revealed several few injuries on the body, based on which the police registered a case of murder against unidentified persons.

The police had also found a mobile phone on the victim, but as it was locked, they could not identify him immediately. Officials then started looking at missing persons complaints to see whether they could identify the man.

Simultaneously, police officers started checking CCTVs on the road where the body was found, and that gave them the breakthrough. “We found that on the night of the murder, a garbage dumper had passed through that road,” said an officer from Kalachowky police station, who did not wish to be named.

The contractor also told them that Mansuri had left on the dumper with four other employees, identified as Ranvir Singh, Brijesh Sompat, Bnemal Rampal and Mungerilal Kewat.

The police detained the four men, and truth spilled out during questioning. The accused confessed that while they were on a garbage-collection round, Mansuri got off the dumper to spit his gutkha. The driver did not realise that he had stepped out and reversed the vehicle, accidentally running him over. When they realised that Mansuri had died, they panicked, dumped his body by the side of the road and fled, instead of rushing their colleague to a hospital or reporting the accident.

The police have arrested the four men and charged them with death due to negligence and for destroying evidence. “We have arrested the four for trying to hide the crime,” the officer said.