Vijay Yadav, his facial reconstructionA man who allegedly murdered a co-worker with a hammer in January was arrested in Mulund recently after he attempted to murder another man at the same spot with the same hammer. Navghar police said the accused, Yogesh Rane (33), confessed to the murder and also helped them recover the hammer with which he had murdered one man in January.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone VII) Akhilesh Singh said Tuesday, “We have arrested a man who works at a restaurant in Mulund for murder. Both the accused and victim worked as waiters at the same restaurant.”
Singh said Rane, who was arrested on Friday, told them he had been upset with the deceased, identified as Vijay Yadav, because the latter had been using his dumbbells.
“The two waiters lived in the same dormitory and often fought with each other. It was after one such fight that Rane decided to murder Yadav,” said Inspector Pratap Bhosle.
Rane allegedly took Yadav to a spot in Mulund (East) under the pretext of consuming alcohol, but later in the night, he hit Yadav with a hammer on the back of the head, burnt his face to ensure he could not be identified and fled from the spot. When the police discovered the body, they had a forensic facial reconstruction of his face done to identify it, but it did not prove to be of much help. Singh said that when Rane was not caught over the following months, he felt he had got away with the murder. “So, when he had a fight with another waiter at the hotel, he took him again to the same spot and brought the hammer along, confident he would get away with murder again,” said Singh. But the man survived the attack and fled from the spot. He informed the police after which an FIR was registered.
Since the incident had taken place at the same spot, the police checked if Rane was involved in the murder in January and made enquiries at the hotel where he worked. There they learned that another waiter was missing and realised that the body found in January was of that waiter.
Police said that Rane had earlier been arrested for the murder of a woman in Raigad.
