Mumbai filmmaker, two bodyguards held for killing Pune man at Panvel

The accused was allegedly having an affair with the victim’s wife.

A 37-year-old filmmaker, who has made Marathi and Bhojpuri films, and two of his bodyguards have been arrested for allegedly killing a 21-year-old man from Pune.

Omkar Kundan Aarne was found dead near Dehrang dam on Panvel-Matheran road on April 28. The post-mortem reports said he was shot dead.

Based on the technical analysis of the evidence, the police arrested filmmaker Nahush Kumar Koli, 37, a resident of Panvel, and his bodyguards, Dharambir Singh, 24, and Narendra Parihar, 54, both residents of Uttar Pradesh.

The police had formed four teams and checked all the missing persons cases in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Pune.

They found a case at Yerwada police station in Pune in which the description of the missing person matched the body found in Panvel. They called his family and Omkar’s elder brother, Aniket identified the body.

“Omkar’s wife Sudha had registered the case saying that her husband had been missing since April 27. But Aniket told us that they suspect Sudha to be involved in the murder. When we tried to reach out to Sudha, she went into hiding. We are still searching for her,” said Maloji Shinde, senior police inspector of Panvel Taluka police station.

Shinde said, “Koli is Sudha’s uncle (husband of mother’s sister) and they had an affair for the past few years. When Omkar learnt about it, he started harassing Sudha, who told Koli about this.”

Omkar and Sudha came to Koli’s flat at Ulwe on April 27 and they stayed there. That night, Koli and his bodyguard Dharambir took Aarne to Panvel-Matheran road in his car. They shot him on April 28 and dumped the body near the dam.

“We later learned that Koli’s other bodyguard Parikar had provided them with the revolver. We arrested him too,” he said. “Apart from Aarne’s wife, there might be more people involved in the crime. Our investigation is on,” Shinde further said.

Aarne was employed as a delivery person for an online shopping portal. The arrested people have been booked under sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 3 and 25 of the Indian Arms Act, and are currently in police custody.