'Congrats, thought you'd never nab me': The story of how police solved the Titwala murder case

The Thane Police on Sunday arrested Sanjay Narwade, the man accused of shooting a 26-year-old dead in a village in Titwala, and then raping his girlfriend at gunpoint.

It was no easy arrest to make.

Narwade, an auto rickshaw driver, left his victim at an isolated spot and fled with a bike and a mobile phone. Police found that a similar case that was registered at the Ambernath Police station last year - a man had been shot at, and his girlfriend molested at another spot. In this case too, the accused held them at gunpoint, and robbed them. When the man tried to stop the attacker from molesting the girl, he opened fire. But the bullet only hit the man's palm, and the attacker fled.

"While working on the case we found the cell tower location of the deceased('s) mobile roaming in areas of Badlapur, Ambernath and Ulhasnagar, and then finally traced the man who had bought the mobile phone from the accused," said a officer from the team which nabbed Narwade. "The man couldn't provide much detail about the accused, but said he was a rirkckshaw driver."

"We then went back to last year's case and tried tracing the earlier victim's mobile phone, and the buyer again said the same thing - that the accused was a rickshaw driver."

The officer continued: "He had called him to a dormitory (in Ulhasnagar) once for receiving payment...We found the dormitory and spent some nights and days there. We were feeling that the accused wouldn't turn up there...on Saturday night..a constable and I were discussing that we should get a room for ourselves. A man sleeping few beds ahead said in a heavy voice '5 number camp mein room milega' and then went back to sleep."

'IT'S HIM! IT'S HIM!'

The heavy voice was a sign, the officer said.

"The victims from both the cases had said that the accused had a heavy voice. We waited for some time, and then clicked his pictures while he was asleep...We sent it to the local police team who then reached out to the victim."

And then, the Eureka moment.

"The officer who had met the victim and showed her the picture called me after an hour, and started screaming over the phone - "It's him, it's him." The victim had apparently collapsed seeing the picture of the man who killed her boyfriend."

The officer and the constable ran back to the dormitory. But it was too late. The man got suspicious and fled, leaving his things behind.

'EVERY ACCUSED MAKES A MISTAKE'

The manager of the dormitory told the police team about the locker where Narwade kept his valuables. It was opened.

The officer found a German-made seven-round revolver with some live rounds - and used shells. It could be worth around Rs 3 to 4 lakh.

"We waited for the accused to return to collect his valuables...every accused does some mistake, and our belief worked," the officer said.

In the wee hours of the following morning, "Narwade was seen coming towards the dormitory, and then when we closed in, he saw us and started running, leaving his footwear."

"The chase was of around a kilometer, before he was overpowered and nabbed."

'CONGRATULATIONS, THOUGHT YOU WOULD NEVER NAB ME'

What was the first thing Narwade said after getting caught?

"Congratulations officer, I thought you will never be able to nab me, no one will," - according to the officer.

Narwade said he bought the weapon from a gun runner in Nashik. He stayed in dormitories, and would scout for possible victims while driving rickshaws.

"He confessed to the crime but showed no remorse...we were seeing a dangerous mind in front of us who gave details of how and where he committed the crime and why. He was deeply, madly involved in watching porn, and had done the same before targeting the victims last week. He knew couples would frequent the isolated spot so he went there in search of one and executed the crime. Many more crimes would be detected with his arrest and a dangerous criminal will be in front of the law," the officer concluded.

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