NAVI MUMBAI: A 33-year-old widow was found allegedly murdered on the terrace of a 4-storeyed under-construction building in Adai vilage of Panvel taluka on Monday late evening.
The Khandeshwar police registered a murder case under section 302 of the IPC against an unidentified murder accused. The crime branch unit -2 team conducting a parallel probe arrested the murder accused on Tuesday evening. The accused has been identified as Jayant Kolkhekar (25), an auto rickshaw driver.
Subhash Kokate, senior inspector of Khandeshwar said: "The murder victim has been identified as Reshma Garude. She survived by two minor children and resided in a joint family with her in-laws in Adai village at their individual G+2 house about 100 metres away from the under-construction building where her body was found on the terrace. Her husband passed away last year due to Covid infection. Her missing complaint was lodged by her in-laws on Monday morning. On Monday late evening, the developer of said under-construction building spotted her body on the terrace and informed the police."
Kokate informed that, prima facie, the woman has a head injury due to assault using some heavy object. She was taken to Panvel sub-district hospital where the doctors declared her brought dead. Her post-mortem report is awaited to ascertain her exact cause of death. As of now, there is no vital clue about the murder accused. Even her mobile has not been found. Hence, her mobile call data record will be obtained to find out the persons whom she had called or those who had contacted her on Monday since she went missing. We are probing from all possible angles to conclude the reason for the woman's murder."
Giridhar Gore, senior inspector of crime branch unit-2 who conducted a parallel probe said:"As the victim woman Reshma Garude didnot return home after going for morning walk, her in-laws had registered her missing complaint. Her husband was an autorickshaw driver and after his death last year, due to covid, she had rented his autorickshaw to his friend Jayant Kolkhekar."
Inspector Gore said, "As Kolkhekar was the prime suspect, we detained him after apprehending him near Adai village circle on Tuesday evening. He has confessed to have killed Garude, as she was insisting that he should marry her. But he was reluctant since he had a child."
