OVER A week after a 15-year-old girl went missing from Andheri and her body was found stuffed in a suitcase at Vasai town in Palghar, two persons were arrested on Friday night from Palanpur in Gujarat for allegedly killing the teen by stabbing her multiple times and then dumping her body in Vasai.
The accused have been identified as Santosh Makwana (21) and Vishal Ambivane (20). The police said the accused — who were into managing events — and the girl knew each other.
The girl had gone to school on August 25 but did not return home. Her family looked for her till the night and then approached the Andheri police, which lodged an FIR of abduction since the victim was a minor.
The next day, the body of the 15-year-old was found around 200 m away from the railway tracks near Naigaon station, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Valiv police.
The body was stuffed in a bag and the girl had stab wounds in her stomach.
The Valiv police identified the body with the help of its Andheri counterparts and registered a case of murder.
During probe, the police zeroed in on Makwana and Ambivane, who could not be traced since the crime took place.
After keeping a track of their movement for over a week, the police finally traced the two to Gujarat and arrested them.
The police said the accused had been travelling since the crime took place and had visited Vaishno Devi in Jammu, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
Asked about the motive behind the crime, an officer said, “The sister of the girl had allegedly assaulted Santosh and he wanted to take revenge. Hence, with the help of Vishal, he allegedly killed her and dumped the body in Vasai.”
An officer from Valiv police said, “They were produced in court on Saturday and remanded to police custody till September 11. Their claims of motive behind the crime will be cross checked.”