Vegetable vendor held for 70-year-old’s murder

Hill Line police in Ulhasnagar have arrested a 32-year-old vegetable vendor from Vasar village in Ambernath for allegedly murdering a septuagenarian on June 18.

Hill Line police in Ulhasnagar have arrested a 32-year-old vegetable vendor from Vasar village in Ambernath for allegedly murdering a septuagenarian on June 18. According to the police, the accused – Ganesh Vitthal Dhudeshiya – had suffered business losses during the lockdown and could not return ₹5,000, which he had borrowed from the 70-year-old victim.

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On June 19, the police had recovered the body of Shejumal Kerumal Ramnani, 70, from an isolated location in Vasar village. Ramnani had been strangled to death using a metal wire, according to the police. The Hill Line police station had filed a case under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against an unknown person.

The crime branch unit of Ulhasnagar had formed a special team to investigate the case. The police had found CCTV footages of the crime spot and also questioned several people from the village.

“We zeroed in on one person and based on inputs from our sources, we had laid a trap to nab him when he was coming to the village. After nabbing him, we had also seized the motorcycle used by the accused to commit the crime,” said a Hill Line police station officer, who did not wish to be named.

“The accused claimed that the victim had abused him and repeatedly kept asking him to return the money. This had irked Dhudeshiya and he planned to murder the Ramnani. On June 18, he had asked Ramnani to meet him to take back his money. He Ramnani to a secluded place in the village on his motorcycle and strangled him to death with the wire,” added the officer.