Mira Bhaynadar: More than 29 years after mercilessly murdering five members of a family, including a 27-year-old woman and her four children aged 5 years, 3 years, 2 years, and a 3-month-old infant in Kashimira, two brothers were finally arrested for their involvement in the killings by the crime branch unit (Zone I) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
The gruesome crime was reported from a tenement in the Penkarpada area of Kashimira on November 16, 1994. The woman and her children were brutally stabbed to death with sharp weapons. Three suspects, including the prime accused, Rajkumar Amarnath Chauhan, alias Kalia, alias Saheb (who was 19 years old at the time), were charged for the crime and booked under sections 302, 201, and 452 of the IPC. The trio had taunted the deceased woman and accused her kids of theft, leading to fights among them and her husband. The crime was apparently executed to settle scores, officials said. However, the trio fled the scene and managed to remain elusive for nearly three decades.
One accused was arrested in December 2022
With the hope of resolving some of the twin-cities' unsolved murder mysteries, the crime branch unit had recently started reinvestigating the sensational case. While Kalia was arrested by the unit on December 29, 2022, his accomplices, identified as Vijay Ramavadh, alias Avdhu (now 48), and his younger brother, Sunil Ramavadh, alias Sanjay (now 47), managed to evade the police dragnet despite repeated attempts by the team.
Based on information that the duo had assumed fake identities and were living in Sohani village, located in Kerakat tehsil of Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh, the team camped in the area for nearly 20 days before apprehending them with the help of their local Special Task Force (STF) counterparts when they were visiting a temple in Varanasi.
After working odd jobs in Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab for several years, both returned to UP, where Avdhu started operating as Vijay Baba, a self-styled tantric (occultist) who claimed to exorcise ghosts and resolve issues faced by gullible villagers with his magical powers. His brother acted as his disciple. Notably, they never visited their own village and preferred staying with their maternal relatives. The duo had even managed to obtain documents like Aadhar and ration cards based on their assumed identities.
Meanwhile, the MBVV police took transit remand of the duo and brought them to Mira Road after presenting them before a court in Uttar Pradesh. Further investigations were ongoing."
