Mumbai: Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Police deployed two teams of two officers each on National Highway 8 in Palghar district on Thursday to recover the murder weapon used to kill police informer Avinash Solanki, 40, alias Avinash Bali. Investigations have revealed the prime accused Nilesh Shukla, 38, may have disposed of the hammer somewhere along NH8.
According to police sources, after killing Solanki, Shukla, who had fled the city in a Safari car with his driver, Vanshbahaddur Singh aka Jagga, 48, had dumped the bloodstained hammer somewhere on the Vasai-Virar-Dahanu stretch on the intervening night of August 17 and 18. Police are also yet to recover the bloodstained clothes belonging to Shukla, which were given to his bodyguard, Ankit Dubey aka Munna, 19, said a source. Munna has so far not revealed the location where Shukla’s clothes are hidden.
After Shukla’s revelation about the hammer’s (murder weapon) location, police teams scoured the area. Navinchandra Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 10) said, “The arrested trio are thick-skinned and refuse to divulge details of exactly how the incident unfolded. However, investigations have revealed Shukla to have thrown the hammer in Palghar district. We hope to recover the same, as it will build a stronger case, with the murder weapon in custody.”
Investigations also reveal Solanki regularly took money from Shukla for helping him with an ongoing narcotics case, in which the latter had been arrested by the Mumbai police in 2008, said police.