NAVI MUMBAI: Neral police detected the murder of a 33-yearold bank employee and arrested a Neral couple within 24 hours of recovering two trolley bags in which the victim’s 11 body parts were found dumped at Neral railway car shed. The bags led police to the shop from where they had been purchased and CCTV footage of Neral market helped them zero in on the accused who were arrested from Mira Road on Wednesday.
The victim, Sushilkumar Sarnaik (31), who lived in an SRA building at Gandhi Nagar in Worli, worked as a relationship manager at a private bank, while the husband-wife duo, Charles Nadar (41) and Salomi Pedrai (31), ran a BPO in Neral.
Police said on December 12, Sarnaik left home at 7am after informing his mother Yellema that he was going on an overnight trip with colleagues to Virar. When he did not return the next day and his phone was unreachable, Yellema went to the bank on Monday where a staffer told her that he had gone to meet Salomi in Neral. The family filed a missing person’s complaitn with Worli police.
On Tuesday, Kalyan GRP staff found a limb in the carshed and informed Neral police, who found the two bags. The next day, Worli police were informed about the body parts and Sarnaik’s family identified them.
Sarnaik, Charles and Salomi were colleagues at a BPO in Bhayander a decade ago, said Karjat sub-divisional police officer Anil Gherdikar. Sarnaik quit and lost touch with them. Charles and Salomi got married and in 2018, shifted from their Mira Road flat to a rental apartment at Rajbaug society.
“Recently, Sarnaik and Salomi reconnected and he spent the weekend at their flat on December 5-6. Charles grew suspicious as Sarnaik repeatedly sent him to the wine shop so that he could spend time with Salomi alone. He planned to eliminate Sarnaik and invited him for drinks on December 12,” Gherdikar said. “The men were consuming liquor past midnight, while Salomi had gone to sleep. Sarnaik, in a drunken stupor, made objectionable remarks about Salomi’s character, which enraged Charles and he allegedly slit his throat with a kitchen knife. He panicked and woke up his wife.”
During interrogation, Charles allegedly said he had three options: Surrender, commit suicide or dispose of the body. “As the couple was worried about their three-year-old daughter’s future, they chose the third option,” Gherdikar said. “The next morning, Charles dropped Salomi and their daughter at Seema Resort and returned to his flat where he chopped the body. Over next three days, he bought two bags, stuffed the body parts in them and dumped them in a nullah abutting the car shed.”
Gherdikar said late on Tuesday, they landed at the Neral flat and found it locked. “We broke open the door and found blood stains on the walls,” he said. “Charles’s mobile tower location showed that he was in Mira Road, but as his landlord called him and told him to vacate the flat because cops were looking for him, he switched off his phone.” Police learnt that Charles often hired an auto driver. “We traced him and he took us to the Mira Road flat, where we found Charles. He tried to flee by jumping from the terrace, but we nabbed him. Salomi was arrested too.” (Inputs: Mateen Hafeez)