Mumbai: After 8 years, man held for killing grandmother

The accused, Pradeep Sonawane, with crime branch officers

A 38-year-old man was arrested on Thursday by the unit 10 of the Mumbai Crime Branch for killing his grandmother, around eight years after the crime. The accused, who was living in Kalyan disguised as a painter, had recently contacted one relative on messenger, following which police traced him and nabbed him. Police officers had kept an eye on the deceased's relatives even after closing the case by filing an A summary report.

The accused, Pradeep Sonawane, has confessed to the crime and said he killed his grandmother in a fit of rage as she allegedly tried to create differences between him and his wife.

The murder came to light in 2014 after police recovered the decomposed body of a 75-year-old woman from her room in Powai. As her jewellery was also missing, police had filed a case of murder and robbery against an unknown person after the post-mortem report showed she was strangled to death.

However, the Powai police could not find any trace of the suspected person. Police officers said Sonawane was not among the initial suspects but the suspicion rose only after he was not found.

"While reviewing undetected cases, we keep tab on serious offences like murder," said Inspector Mahesh Thakur from Unit 10 of Crime Branch.

Nilotpal, DCP, Detection 1, said, "Following his call to the relative, our team started tracking him again and traced him to Kalyan." A crime branch team got his identity confirmed and brought him to Mumbai on Thursday and arrested him. During interrogation, Sonawane told police that he killed his grandmother on June 13, 2014 as she often used to incite his wife against him.

June 13
Day in 2014 when the murder took place