GRP nabs man accused in 1999 kidnapping, murder case case

The local crime branch of the government railway police (GRP), while investigating a case of bag-lifting at Kalyan GRP station on Wednesday, arrested an accused

The local crime branch of the government railway police (GRP), while investigating a case of bag-lifting at Kalyan GRP station on Wednesday, arrested an accused wanted in a kidnapping and murder case registered in 1999.

HT Image

According to GRP officers, the accused, identified as 46-year-old Sajid Rashid Arai alias Moin Qadri, along with his friend Siraj Mujawar, had kidnapped the son of one Mureshwar Ramawtar in April 1999. They had demanded a ransom of ₹70 lakh to free Ramawtar’s son Amit.

The ransom amount was brought down to ₹4.5 lakh, but when there was a delay in payment, the accused feared that Ramawtar had informed the police. He then killed Amit and threw his body in Vasai creek.

The accused then switched off his phone and fled the city, following which a complaint of kidnapping and extortion was registered at Santacruz police station on April 14, 1999. According to the GRP police, Arai’s name cropped up when they were investigating a bag lifting case.

“On March 11, we registered a case at Kalyan GRP where a bag with valuables worth ₹3.2 lakh was stolen. We arrested the bag lifter and as part of the investigation, we checked his contact list. That is when we stumbled on Arai’s contact and found out that he was staying at Kharghar under the alias Moin Qadri,” said Uttam Sonawane, inspector of GRP (local crime branch).

“We identified Arai and during questioning, he revealed that he had killed Amit with help from his friend Siraj Mujawar who had died in a road accident in 2013,” said Sonawane.

During the preliminary investigation, Arai told police that Amit and he used to be friends. When the accused and Mujawar discovered that Amit’s father was financially stable, they plotted the kidnapping to get a large ransom. On April 5, 1999, Arai and Mujawar called Amit for a bike ride and then kidnapped him. The case went undetected by Santacruz police station and later was transferred to the crime branch.