Mira-Bhayandar: Less than eight hours after they found the body of an unidentified woman with her head smashed, the crime branch unit (Zone III) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police cracked the blind murder case by arresting the husband of the deceased in less than eight hours.
According to the police, the body was recovered from Patil Wadi- farmland in Virar at around 11:30 am on Tuesday (22, April). It was a herculean task to identify the woman as her head was badly smashed beyond recognition.
During investigations a team led by police inspector- Shahuraj Ranaware learnt that a rag-picker woman frequented the crime spot. Armed with the sketchy clue, the team fanned all slum clusters in the vicinity of the crime spot and ascertained the identity of the woman as- Saku Shantaram Bhoir (50) who stayed in a tenement located in the Phool-Pada area of Virar (east).
During questioning, the family members of the deceased woman including- husband, son and daughter-in-law gave contradictory statements creating suspicion about the authenticity of their versions related to the mysterious disappearance. After rounds of sustained interrogations, the woman’s husband- Shantaram Resham Bhoir spilled the beans and confessed to the crime.
It emerged that Shantaram suspected his wife of having an illicit relationship with a person living in their neighborhood which led to frequent fights between the couple. When Saku did not return home on Monday night, Shantaram set out in search of her and found her sleeping alone in the farmland a little past midnight.
In his statement to the police, Shantaram claimed that he urged Saku to come home with him. However, her refusal triggered a verbal argument which escalated into physical violence. Shantaram allegedly killed his wife by smashing her head with a stone before fleeing the spot.
An offence under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita for murder has been registered at the Virar police station against Shantaram who was remanded to custody after the police produced him before the court on Wednesday. Further investigations were underway.
