Pallavi Purkayastha's killer was caught with the help of his brother's FB page

Sajjad Mugal, murderer of lawyer Pallavi Purkayastha, could run, hide, but couldn't escape a Facebook picture tag. Sources told mid-day that the first concrete lead about his whereabouts came from Facebook around three months ago, where Sajjad was seen in a photo posted by his brother.

(From left) Irfan, Amjad, Sajjad and Taufiq Mugal

Sajjad had jumped furlough and gone into hiding in February 2016. Sources said during Mumbai Police's 20-month-long hunt for Sajjad alias Pathan, 28, they had also tried their luck by searching for him on the Internet to get a lead. They also looked up his brothers Irfan, Amjad and Taufiq online.

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Bashir Mohammad, Mogul's supervisor

With brothers
During this, investigators stumbled upon the profile of Sajjad's younger brother Irfan on Facebook. While going through his timeline, the investigators found a group photo shared by Irfan a few months ago with all four of his four brothers. Interestingly, Irfan has since removed the picture from his Facebook profile.

The Crime Branch's special team comprising inspector Sanjay Nikam, constables Daya Kamble, Sandeep Kamble and Sandeep Talekar already had knowledge and been to Sajjad's residence and its nearby area. They looked closely at the background and took no time in figuring out that the picture was taken close to a dam near Sajjad's village.

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Pallavi Purkayastha, who was murdered at her Wadala flat in 2012

First concrete lead
"The photo became our first concrete lead confirming Sajjad's presence in the area, where we were looking for him. After this lead, a plan was chalked out and the team members began preparing for the operation. Sajjad was finally arrested from the construction site of a tunnel after sources groomed by the crime branch provided reliable information," said a crime branch source.

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A crime branch officer said it is a matter of pride for the Mumbai police to capture Sajjad, as in addition to the Nashik and Jammu and Kashmir police, officials from the Border Security Force, military intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and the National Rifles were also hunting for him. They did so after Pallavi's father, a senior IAS officer, conveyed the gravity of the situation to the concerned forces. The effort failed to yield results as Sajjad managed to hoodwink all of them. He was re-arrested on October 10 from J&K.

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