Bhayandar: With the arrest of a killer five days after the recovery of a charred body of a woman in Ghodbunder on Monday, the Local Crime Branch (LCB) unit of the Thane (Rural) police claims to have cracked the case. According to police, the accused, identfied as Abrar Mohd Aslam Shaikh (25), was booked under section 302 and 201 of the IPC. The crime was reportedly the fallout of an illicit relationship turned sour.
After the crime came to light, SP Dr Shivaji Rathod deputed the LCB to conduct a parallel investigation. “After scanning the area for clues, we found some half burnt papers scribbled with mobile numbers. Upon verifications, it emerged the deceased was, Nirmala Sachin Yadav alias Nirmala Dhonkar (50), a resident of Nallasopara and ran a grocery store in Shree Ram Nagar,” said seniorinspector Vyenkat Andhale.
Investigations revealed Nirmala who was in a live-in relationship with another man, had developed illicit affair with Abrar and was pestering him to marry her. When she threatened him that she would tell his wife about their affair and ruin his married life, Abrar developed cold feet and decided to kill her.
On January 15, Nirmala left her home to attend a marriage in Pune when Abrar called her to Hotel Fountain in Kashimira. On the pretext of working out their marriage plans, he took her to the jungle area where he first bludgeoned her to death with a stone and then set her body afire with the help of clothes and other belongings she was carrying in her bag. ,
“The accused who works as a painter had fled to Gulbarga after committing the crime. On a tip-off about his arrival in the city, he was nabbed from the Nallasopara railway station on Mondayday,” said assistant inspector Pramodh Badhak. The accused has confessed to his crime, police said.