Thane: Man tracks down father’s killers through ATM activity

Rs 25,000 was withdrawn from Mohite’s account via ATM, after he went missing. Representation pic

The police have arrested two people for allegedly killing a 68-year-old retired jail official and disposing of his body after he demanded the money he had lent one of them. Anil Mohite had lent Rs 5 lakh to one of the accused and had been asking him to return the amount. He went missing after leaving home around 4 pm on April 12. Initially, the family thought he had gone to take a look at Ambedkar Jayanti preparations nearby. They panicked after he didn't return home until midnight and after waiting for a day, registered a missing person case with the Badlapur West police.

A few days later, his son Amit was checking his documents and came across his bank passbook. He also came across a letter addressed to the bank with a ‘received' stamp by the bank, stating that a cheque in his possession had been misplaced and he should be informed in case someone tries to encash it. On April 17, after Amit visited the bank and updated the passbook, he was shocked to see a transaction had been made after his father had gone missing.

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According to an officer attached to the Badlapur police station, two bank-to-bank transactions of Rs 1 lakh each had been made on February 13 and March 18. "Both times the money was sent to the account of Mahadu Walkoli. But the interesting thing was that somebody had withdrawn Rs 25,000 from Mohite's account via the ATM after he went missing," he said.

The police booked Walkoli on April 18. "He was living in a rented space in the same building as Mohite and frequently talked with him. After Mohite went missing, he inquired about his whereabouts with his son and the building watchman. This raised our suspicions further," said another officer. Senior police inspector Arun Kshirsagar deputed a team under police inspector Kishor Shinde to track Walkoli. With the help of technical analysis, he was traced to Murbad and nabbed within 12 hours of the FIR being registered. Mohite's ATM card was also found in his possession.

While being interrogated, Walkoli confessed to killing Mohite over his demand that he be repaid. He told the police that on April 12, he lured Mohite near Deodhar dam on the pretext of giving him asthma medication and then killed him with the help of one Lakshman Jadhav. The cops then visited a spot with Walkoli and recovered Mohite's body that was buried there. "Walkoli borrowed money from Mohite and did not want to return it. He decided to get rid of Mohite and go into hiding for a few days," Kshirsagar said.