Two people were arrested after a body was found in the boot of their car during a nakabandi at Wada in Palghar early on Monday.

According to the police, Narayanlal, 29, a resident of Vasai, was murdered by Madanlal, 28, and his friend, Shravan, 26, as Narayanlal would blackmail Madanlal for large amounts of money in exchange for keeping his extra-marital affair secret.

The trigger for the murder plan was Narayanlal’s demand for Rs1 lakh last week and a looming threat of him spilling out the secret, said a Wada police officer.

According to the police, on Sunday afternoon, Madanlal and Shravan got Narayanlal to Madanlal’s house where they strangled him with a rope, put the body in a huge suitcase and placed it inside the boot of a white Ford Figo car. They had decided to dump the body near Trimbakeshwar Ghats, Nasik. However, they were forced to stop the car during a nakabandi near Waghota toll naka, where the police found the suitcase hidden under a bed sheet.

According to the police, the accused said they were traders. The two were arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the body has been sent for post-mortem and will be handed to his relatives from Rajasthan. The two would be produced before a Vasai court on Tuesday.

First Published: Oct 16, 2018 10:40 IST