Mira Bhayandar: 16 years after murdering 32-year-old man, two held from Uttarakhand

Almost 16 years after they brutally murdered a 32-year-old man who worked as a production manager at a garment factory in Mira Road, two people were arrested by the crime branch unit (Zone III) from a village in Uttarakhand for their alleged involvement.

Victim was found with multiple injuries

The police said the victim, Sanjay Vinod Jha, was found near the highway with multiple injuries in Vasai on Dec 13, 2007. However, the killers managed to remain elusive for nearly two decades.

While reinvestigating the unsolved case, the crime branch team, led by Police Inspector Pramod Badhaak, under the guidance of DCP (Crime) Avinash Ambure, got some crucial leads on the virtue of their informer network and electronic surveillance.

Suspects were changing location from several years

The team learnt that the suspects, who were frequently changing their locations for the past several years, were now hiding in a village in Bageshwar district of Uttarakhand. The police reached the village and apprehended the duo – Puransing Pratapsing Unyoni alias Parihar, 41, and Mohansing Pratapsing Unyoni, 38, March 20. Both were found to be running an eatery and a general store in the village.

Strangled the victim and stoned him to death

Investigations revealed that the duo and their accomplices had strangulated Jha and stoned him to death. The murder is said to be the fallout of a dispute over money, the police said. While the duo has been arrested and booked under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code, a manhunt has been launched to nab their accomplices.