Thane rape-murder: Previous crime helped police nab accused

“While looking for the auto driver, we realised there was a case in which a gun-brandishing auto driver had robbed a passenger in 2017. We started digging around that case and managed to zero in on Naravade,” the officer said (Representational Image)

A previously undetected case helped Thane Rural Police nab the accused of the Titwala murder and rape, sources said. Accused Sanjay Narawade had assaulted someone who had described him exactly like the woman in this case, said police.

Narawade, an auto driver originally from Jalna, had bought a sophisticated gun from Aurangabad for Rs 15,000, police said.  “He had been carrying the gun since last year. In the first quarter of 2017, he allegedly used the gun to rob someone in Ambernath. While a case was registered and even a sketch of the perpetrator was made, he wasn’t identified,” said a senior officer from Thane Rural Police who seized his gun and the other valuables from the alleged rape and murder spot that the accused had taken.

The police had been tracking the woman’s mobile phone, which the accused had taken along with the keys of the deceased’s bike. “However, we didn’t know if he would throw the phone away. It was only after the sketch was made that we got the actual clue,” the officer said.

According to sources, the victim had told the police that the accused was wearing a brown shirt and trousers. Since that is the uniform worn by auto drivers, the police decided to check if any auto-driver had been missing from his regular route. “While looking for the auto driver, we realised there was a case in which a gun brandishing auto driver had robbed a passenger in 2017. We started digging around that case and managed to zero in on Naravade,” the officer said.

Narawade, who killed a 28-year-old man and raped his girlfriend before fleeing with their valuables, said he had been attracted to the woman, the police said. “He has confessed to both the crimes, this one and the one committed in 2017. He was remanded in the police custody till March 17. We intend to interrogate him to find out if he has robbed others on gunpoint. We are also checking if he is a sex addict as he seems to be fond of pornography,” said an officer investigating the case.

On March 5, the couple were on a joyride when they stopped near a secluded spot on the Ambernath-Chinchpada Road. The accused allegedly attacked them and asked for their valuables. When they refused, he shot the man dead and dragged the woman behind bushes and allegedly raped her. He then fled the spot with her phone, and the key of the bike the deceased was riding. The woman’s cries were heard by a man from nearby Nalimbi village who alerted the police.