Thane man arrested 20 years after killing friend’s wife for ₹5,000 contract

The Thane Crime Branch Unit 1 has arrested a 46-year-old man who killed his friend’s wife after taking a contract for the killing from his friend. The accused, Shambhu

The Thane Crime Branch Unit 1 has arrested a 46-year-old man who killed his friend’s wife after taking a contract for the killing from his friend. The accused, Shambhu Rawal, was arrested 20 years after the crime was committed. Rawal was absconding since the crime and was arrested from his village in Gujarat.

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Rawal and his friend Suresh Nhavi, who is dead, had taken a contract from Kundan Rawal to kill his wife Kunda for just ₹5,000. The couple had frequent fights following which Kundan hatched the plan. An officer from unit 1 said, “Accordingly they executed the murder plan on February 18, 2000 by strangulating Kunda in her house in Wagale Estate in Thane. Rawal and Nhavi both fled to their village after committing the crime.”

The Wagle Estate police arrested the husband, Kundan for the murder and during interrogation he confessed to the crime and named the two who were absconding since then.

The crime branch officials, while working on cases related to wanted criminals, got a tip off about Rawal.

The officer added, “We formed a team and sent it to his village in Vijapurmake, Gujrat. Our team laid a trap and arrested him. While interrogating him about his partner Nhavi, we came to know he died of natural causes. We have brought him to Thane and handed him over to Wagle Estate police station. Rawal, who was a friend of Kundan, came to Mumbai in search of job in 2000. After he murdered Kundan’s wife with the ₹5,000 he fled the place, was hiding in different places before settling in his village. We are taking information weather he has done any other crime in the last 20 years.”